Lots of people act well, but few people talk well. This shows that talking is the more difficult of the two. One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing. Literature always anticipates life. It does not copy it, but moulds it to its purpose. The nineteenth century, as we know it, is largely an invention of Balzac. Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other. Life imitates art far more than art imitates life. It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you place the blame. It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style. It is well for his peace that the saint goes to his martyrdom. He is spared the sight of the horror of his harvest. It is through Art, and through Art only, that we can realise our perfection. It is only the superficial qualities that last. Man's deeper nature is soon found out. |