She looked at him sadly. 'Whatever it was,' she said, 'I suffered a great deal.' He answered philosophically: 'Existence is thus!'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- She expresses sorrow over an unknown suffering; he replies with a detached, philosophical acceptance of existence.
- In plain terms
- She says she suffered; he says existence is what it is.
- What can you take from it?
- People often respond to pain with philosophical resignation.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is philosophical resignation helpful in grief?
- How can we balance empathy and philosophical perspective?
Another view
His answer may minimize her feelings.
More from Gustave Flaubert
Adultery, Emma was discovering, could be as banal as marriage.
Permalink to quote #82 He wasn't lying. If he had had it he would probably have given it to her, unpleasant though it usually is to make such generous gifts: of all the icy blasts th…
Permalink to quote #84 There isn't a bourgeois alive who in the ferment of his youth, if only for a day or for a minute, hasn't thought himself capable of boundless passions and nobl…
Permalink to quote #81
Related quotes
The pleasure that is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe Shelley quote #161 The light has gone out of my life.
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt quote #1 Between grief and nothing I will take grief.
William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner quote #2