Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Beauty is so powerful it causes pain because it hints at eternal perfection we cannot hold onto in time.
- In plain terms
- Beautiful things hurt because they show us a perfect world we can't keep.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept beauty even if it hurts.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When did beauty make you feel sad?
- Why do you want to keep beautiful moments?
Another view
Not everyone finds beauty painful; some find it comforting.
More from Albert Camus
Barbarism is never temporary. Sufficient allowance is never made for it, and, quite naturally, from art barbarism extends to morals.
Permalink to quote #110 Being able to remain on that dizzying crest - that is integrity and the rest is subterfuge.
Permalink to quote #112 Analysis of rebellion leads at least to the suspicion that, contrary to the postulates of contemporary thought, a human nature does exist, as the Greeks believ…
Permalink to quote #109
Related quotes
Land of Heart's Desire, Where beauty has no ebb, decay no flood, But joy is wisdom, time an endless song.
William Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats quote #34 Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
William BlakeWilliam Blake quote #62 Maybe that's what life is... a wink of the eye and winking stars.
Jack KerouacJack Kerouac quote #1