That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal; from which it follows that irregularity – that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment, are a essential part and characteristic of beauty.
Charles BaudelaireRead
...and the lamp having at last resigned itself to death. There was nothing now but firelight in the room, And every time a flame uttered a gasp for breath It flushed her amber skin with the blood of its bloom.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote captures the beauty of life and death through the imagery of firelight and the brightness of a woman's skin.
In this quote, Baudelaire paints a vivid picture of a room illuminated only by the flickering firelight after a lamp has extinguished. The interplay between light and the woman's amber skin symbolizes the passionate and fleeting nature of life, suggesting that even at the moment of surrender to death, there is a lingering beauty and vibrancy in existence.
Themes
LightDeathBeautyLifePassion
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the intersections of life and art.
More from Charles Baudelaire
All quotes →The 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
Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear.
Claude DebussyRead
This was the first time that he has ever looked into the labyrinth of the human soul. He was very far from understanding what he saw. But what was of more value, he felt and suffered with her. In years that were yet to come, he relived this memory in song, in the most beautiful song this world has known. For the understanding of the soul's defencelessness, of the conflict between the two poles, is not the source of the greatest song. The source of the greatest song is sympathy.
Halldr LaxnessRead
Pornography is any act that has no artistic merit and causes sexual thoughts...Sounds like almost every commercial on TV to me.
Bill HicksRead
Sometimes the fragment of a conversation, the color of the sky, the image in a dream, has everything to do with where the song begins.
Rosanne CashRead
I just tried to come up with some honest songs. What I was writing about was real plain stuff that I wasn't sure was going to be interesting to other people. But I guess it was...I've never had any discipline whatsoever. I just wait on a song like I was waiting for lightning to strike. And eventually-usually sometime around 3 in the morning-I'll have a good idea. By the time the sun comes up, hopefully, I'll have a decent song.
John PrineRead
I never see one woman when I design, it's always a universe of women
Donna KaranRead