The past is of no importance. The present is of no importance. It is with the future that we have to deal. For the past is what man should not have been. The present is what man ought not to… — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share
There are only two great currents in the history of mankind: the baseness which makes conservatives and the envy which makes revolutionaries. — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share Image
Princes enjoy themselves like children in the company of ordinary human beings. — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share Image
“[He] went on to say that during all those years he had done nothing at all, that all he had felt had been a… — Edmond De Goncourt Copy Share Image
A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world. — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share Image
The past is of no importance. The present is of no importance. It is with the future that we have to deal. For the past is what man should not have been. The present is what man ought not to be. The future is what artists are. The facts: nothing matters but the facts: worship of the facts leads to… — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share
One of the proud joys of the man of letters --if that man of letters is an artist is to feel within himself the power to immortalize at will anything he chooses to immortalize. Insignificant though he may be, he is conscious of possessing a creative divinity. God creates lives; the man of imagination creates fictional lives which may make… — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share
Historians tell the story of the past, novelists the story of the present. — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share Image
She is unable to dream, think or love. In a woman, poetry never comes naturally, but always as the result of education. Only the… — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share Image
Any man who does not see everything in terms of self, that is to say who wants to be something in respect of other… — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share Image
I have always derived indescribable pleasure from leading a decent woman to the edge of sin and leaving her there to live between the… — Edmond de Goncourt Copy Share Image
![“[He] went on to say that during all those years he had done nothing at all, that all he had felt had been a need to live, to live actively, violently, noisily, a need to sing, to make music, to roam the woods, to drink a little too much and get involved in a brawl.” quote by Edmond De Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3e1/edmond-de-goncourt-19675_life_he-went-on-to-say-that-during-all-those_436609.jpg)
