Edmond de Goncourt

If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult than religion. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#god #him #insult #less #must

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#else #hears #more #museum #opinions

A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs it while playing a violin. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#ladder #man #playing #poet #puts

As a general truth, it is safe to say that any picture that produces a moral impression is a bad picture. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#bad #general #impression #moral #picture

Barbarism is needed every four or five hundred years to bring the world back to life. Otherwise it would die of civilization. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#barbarism #bring #civilization #die #every

Genius is the talent of a person who is dead. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#genius #person #talent #who

Historians tell the story of the past, novelists the story of the present. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#novelists #past #present #story #tell

Laughter is the mind's intonation. There are ways of laughing which have the sound of counterfeit coins. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#counterfeit #intonation #laughing #laughter #mind

Man is a mind betrayed, not served, by his organs. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#his #man #mind #organs #served

People don't like the true and simple; they like fairy tales and humbug. ↗

— Edmond de Goncourt

#fairy tales #humbug #like #people #simple