That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal; from which it follows that irregularity β that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment, are a essential part and characteristic of beauty.
Charles BaudelaireRead
What do I care if you are good? Be beautiful! and be sad!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the value of beauty and emotional depth over moral goodness.
Charles Baudelaire's quote highlights a preference for beauty and the depth of human emotion, even if it comes with sadness, over the superficial measurement of goodness. It suggests that authentic experiences and aesthetic appreciation are more significant than conforming to societal norms of morality, celebrating the complexity of human existence.
Themes
BeautyEmotionSadnessArtPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the nature of art and its relationship to human emotions.
More from Charles Baudelaire
All quotes βThe dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.
Charles BaudelaireRead
Who among us has not dreamt, in moments of ambition, of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhythm and rhyme, supple and staccato enough to adapt to the lyrical stirrings of the soul, the undulations of dreams, and sudden leaps of consciousness.
Charles BaudelaireRead
There is no sweeter pleasure than to surprise a man by giving him more than he hopes for.
Charles BaudelaireRead
The priest is an immense being because he makes the crowd believe astonishing things.
Charles BaudelaireRead
I consider it useless and tedious to represent what exists, because nothing that exists satisfies me. Nature is ugly, and I prefer the monsters of my fancy to what is positively trivial.
Charles BaudelaireRead
Similar quotes
It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours. All the past can help you.
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They say that the eyes of some paintings can follow you around the room, a fact that I doubt, but I am wondering whether some music can follow you for ever.
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Why shouldn't rap be esoteric, able to take in current events, history and criticism? I guess it's this old idea of containment - that rappers, because they're black, can't and shouldn't aspire to look outside the ghetto for influence.
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In nature, light creates the color. In the picture, color creates the light.
Hans HofmannRead
Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.
William BlakeRead