---
title: "Best Georges Rodenbach Quotes"
description: "Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist. Browse 70 Georges Rodenbach quotes."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-georges-rodenbach-38123.jpg"
---

![Portrait of Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-georges-rodenbach-38123.jpg)

# Georges Rodenbach

(1855–1898)   Poet   Belgium

 **70** quotes in **175** categories

Rate this collection:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

Georges Rodenbach was a poet from Belgium, best known for *Bruges-La-Morte*.

## Quick Facts About Georges Rodenbach

Born July 16, 1855

Died December 25, 1898

Nationality Belgium

Profession Poet

Notable works Bruges-La-Morte

## About Georges Rodenbach

Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist.

##  Quotes by Georges Rodenbach · Page 2

> [“They needed to take action, make haste, embalm the dead town, dress the wounds of the sculptures, heal the sick windows, give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/they-needed-to-take-action-make-haste-embalm-the-dead-town-dress-the/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Architecture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/architecture/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_they-needed-to-take-action-make-haste-em_1597793.jpg)

> [“Is it not strange how quickly one can become detached from everything? How empty life appears when one is close to death!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/is-it-not-strange-how-quickly-one-can-become-detached-from-everything/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Close to death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/close-to-death/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/georges-rodenbach-9570_close-to-death_is-it-not-strange-how-quickly-one-can-be_338573.jpg)

> [“As he walked, the sad faded leaves were driven pitilessly around him by the wind, and under the mingling influences of autumn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/as-he-walked-the-sad-faded-leaves-were-driven-pitilessly-around-him/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Autumn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_as-he-walked-the-sad-faded-leaves-were-d_735031.jpg)

> [“Oh the joy of an idée fixe! The contentment of a life taken up some ideal, any ideal! A gentle trap to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/oh-the-joy-of-an-id-e-fixe-the-contentment-of-a-life-taken-up-some/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/georges-rodenbach-9570_children_oh-the-joy-of-an-id-e-fixe-the-contentme_1584158.jpg)

> [“Bruges was his dead wife. And his dead wife was Bruges. The two were united in a like destiny. It was Bruges-la-Morte,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/bruges-was-his-dead-wife-and-his-dead-wife-was-bruges-the-two-were/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Bruges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bruges/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/190/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_bruges-was-his-dead-wife-and-his-dead-wi_2552945.jpg)

> [“Ornamentation, festoons, carvings, cartouches, bas-reliefs, countless surprises among the sculptures - and the tones of the facades weathered by time and rain,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/ornamentation-festoons-carvings-cartouches-bas-reliefs-countless/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Architecture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/architecture/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2b/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_ornamentation-festoons-carvings-cartouch_2417242.jpg)

> [“But any great happiness is a bright light, a challenge to fate to do its worst. There must not be people who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/but-any-great-happiness-is-a-bright-light-a-challenge-to-fate-to-do/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Fate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fate/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/georges-rodenbach-9570_fate_but-any-great-happiness-is-a-bright-ligh_2499710.jpg)

> [“The man did not attempt to deny it: 'Yes! It's the fault of this town.' The woman, pale and mournful, agreed: 'It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-man-did-not-attempt-to-deny-it-yes-it-s-the-fault-of-this-town/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b8/georges-rodenbach-9570_death_the-man-did-not-attempt-to-deny-it-yes-i_2333788.jpg)

> [“He felt alone, prey to the tedium, to the dreariness of time, especially at the approach of twilight which, during those late-autumn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/he-felt-alone-prey-to-the-tedium-to-the-dreariness-of-time-especially/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Autumn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/033/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_he-felt-alone-prey-to-the-tedium-to-the_265158.jpg)

> [“Opposite is the old bell-tower of a church, all the more moving for being unfinished. What beauty there is in interrupted towers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/opposite-is-the-old-bell-tower-of-a-church-all-the-more-moving-for/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e7/georges-rodenbach-9570_beauty_opposite-is-the-old-bell-tower-of-a-chur_1161645.jpg)

> [“Even during the nights, their nights punctuated by unending kisses, they were sometimes irritated by the carillon, which sounded every quarter of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/even-during-the-nights-their-nights-punctuated-by-unending-kisses/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Bells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bells/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c63/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_even-during-the-nights-their-nights-punc_3144015.jpg)

> [“Does it not sometimes happen in life that our actions are solely for an enemy, so as to stand up to him,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/does-it-not-sometimes-happen-in-life-that-our-actions-are-solely-for/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Enemy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enemy/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d5/georges-rodenbach-9570_enemy_does-it-not-sometimes-happen-in-life-tha_386723.jpg)

> [“Nothing goes unobserved in that strict town where people lack occupation. Malicious curiosity there has even invented what is known as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/nothing-goes-unobserved-in-that-strict-town-where-people-lack/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Busybody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/busybody-26011/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/georges-rodenbach-9570_gossip_nothing-goes-unobserved-in-that-strict-t_1604663.jpg)

> [“Oh, the sudden change of perspective brought about by travel and absence! How different everything was here: the people in the streets,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/oh-the-sudden-change-of-perspective-brought-about-by-travel-and/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a60/georges-rodenbach-9570_change_oh-the-sudden-change-of-perspective-brou_70688.jpg)

> [“Now Borluut was seeing it from close to. And to its very end, it seemed, from the way the line of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/now-borluut-was-seeing-it-from-close-to-and-to-its-very-end-it-seemed/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Beach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beach/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/92f/georges-rodenbach-9570_beach_now-borluut-was-seeing-it-from-close-to_214601.jpg)

> [“As he made his way back to his home on the Dijver, along the canals, beside the calm waters, Borluut felt his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/as-he-made-his-way-back-to-his-home-on-the-dijver-along-the-canals/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Bruges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bruges/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/485/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_as-he-made-his-way-back-to-his-home-on-t_2558468.jpg)

> [“Gripped by a feverish urge to climb, he felt like running up the stone stairs. People often talk of the attraction of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/gripped-by-a-feverish-urge-to-climb-he-felt-like-running-up-the-stone/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Abyss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abyss/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16c/georges-rodenbach-9570_abyss_gripped-by-a-feverish-urge-to-climb-he-f_2902706.jpg)

> [“The carillon is, after all, the music of the people. Elsewhere, in the glittering capitals, public festivals are celebrated with fireworks, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-carillon-is-after-all-the-music-of-the-people-elsewhere-in-the/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Bells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bells/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_the-carillon-is-after-all-the-music-of-t_1812834.jpg)

> [“He discovered another bell, huge as well, but not plain and bare. Its metal sides were covered in scenes, bas-reliefs spreading their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/he-discovered-another-bell-huge-as-well-but-not-plain-and-bare-its/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bell/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/georges-rodenbach-9570_bell_he-discovered-another-bell-huge-as-well_2465558.jpg)

> [“Besides that, his secret - and principal - reason for retiring was to devote himself entirely to his idée fixe, his collection…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/besides-that-his-secret-and-principal-reason-for-retiring-was-to/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Clock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/georges-rodenbach-9570_clock_besides-that-his-secret-and-principal-re_1238392.jpg)

> [“The act of writing itself is like an act of love. There is contact. There is exchange too. We no longer know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-act-of-writing-itself-is-like-an-act-of-love-there-is-contact/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Letter writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/letter-writing/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_letter-writing_the-act-of-writing-itself-is-like-an-act_2949371.jpg)

> [“That is the way it is, we always fall in love because of a detail, a nuance. It is a marker we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/that-is-the-way-it-is-we-always-fall-in-love-because-of-a-detail-a/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Detail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detail/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b4e/georges-rodenbach-9570_detail_that-is-the-way-it-is-we-always-fall-in_468514.jpg)

> [“The only man who is truly happy is a man who has an idée fixe. It takes up his every minute, fills…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-only-man-who-is-truly-happy-is-a-man-who-has-an-id-e-fixe-it/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Empty space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empty-space/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_empty-space_the-only-man-who-is-truly-happy-is-a-man_2875098.jpg)

> [“Oh, the joy of the arrival of a child, which is both the one and the other, a mirror in which husband…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/oh-the-joy-of-the-arrival-of-a-child-which-is-both-the-one-and-the/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/child/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/georges-rodenbach-9570_child_oh-the-joy-of-the-arrival-of-a-child-whi_1887950.jpg)

> [“...without knowing why, he yielded to the temptation of those lips and flung onto them, eating them, partaking of their sacrament... Eucharist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/without-knowing-why-he-yielded-to-the-temptation-of-those-lips-and/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Eucharist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eucharist/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/georges-rodenbach-9570_kiss_without-knowing-why-he-yielded-to-the-te_2153492.jpg)

> [“Is this not the collector's exquisite pleasure, that his desire should know no bounds, should reach out into the infinite, should never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/is-this-not-the-collector-s-exquisite-pleasure-that-his-desire-should/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Collecting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collecting/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc1/georges-rodenbach-9570_collecting_is-this-not-the-collector-s-exquisite-pl_3102726.jpg)

> [“Now they came, spectres in mourning, humbling themselves, ghosts, their eyes the only points of brightness. It was harrowing: a long cortege…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/now-they-came-spectres-in-mourning-humbling-themselves-ghosts-their/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Penitence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/penitence/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/755/georges-rodenbach-9570_penitence_now-they-came-spectres-in-mourning-humbl_2494145.jpg)

> [“Dead towns are the Cathedrals of Silence. They, too, have their gargoyles, singular figures, exaggerated, dubious, set in high profile. They stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/dead-towns-are-the-cathedrals-of-silence-they-too-have-their/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Bruges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bruges/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a42/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_dead-towns-are-the-cathedrals-of-silence_307596.jpg)

> [“It was a delicate task, too, for the danger was twofold: on the one hand not to restore would mean losing precious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/it-was-a-delicate-task-too-for-the-danger-was-twofold-on-the-one-hand/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Architecture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/architecture/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f23/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_it-was-a-delicate-task-too-for-the-dange_2419305.jpg)

> [“Bruges had the air of a ghost town. The high towers, the trees along the canals withdrew, absorbed by the same muslin:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/bruges-had-the-air-of-a-ghost-town-the-high-towers-the-trees-along/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

[Autumn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53c/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_bruges-had-the-air-of-a-ghost-town-the-h_1273066.jpg)

## Georges Rodenbach by topic

[Bruges (16)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bruges/georges-rodenbach/) [Love (13)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/georges-rodenbach/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/#itemlist",
            "name": "Georges Rodenbach Quotes",
            "numberOfItems": 30,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“They needed to take action, make haste, embalm the dead town, dress the wounds of the sculptures, heal the sick windows, give succour to the ageing walls.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/they-needed-to-take-action-make-haste-embalm-the-dead-town-dress-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_they-needed-to-take-action-make-haste-em_1597793.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_they-needed-to-take-action-make-haste-em_1597793.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_they-needed-to-take-action-make-haste-em_1597793.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“They needed to take action, make haste, embalm the dead town, dress the wounds of the sculptures, heal the…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Is it not strange how quickly one can become detached from everything? How empty life appears when one is close to death!”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/is-it-not-strange-how-quickly-one-can-become-detached-from-everything/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/georges-rodenbach-9570_close-to-death_is-it-not-strange-how-quickly-one-can-be_338573.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/georges-rodenbach-9570_close-to-death_is-it-not-strange-how-quickly-one-can-be_338573.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/georges-rodenbach-9570_close-to-death_is-it-not-strange-how-quickly-one-can-be_338573.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Is it not strange how quickly one can become detached from everything? How empty life appears when one is…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“As he walked, the sad faded leaves were driven pitilessly around him by the wind, and under the mingling influences of autumn and evening, a craving for the quietude of the grave … overtook him with unwanted intensity.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/as-he-walked-the-sad-faded-leaves-were-driven-pitilessly-around-him/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_as-he-walked-the-sad-faded-leaves-were-d_735031.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_as-he-walked-the-sad-faded-leaves-were-d_735031.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_as-he-walked-the-sad-faded-leaves-were-d_735031.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“As he walked, the sad faded leaves were driven pitilessly around him by the wind, and under the mingling…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Oh the joy of an idée fixe! The contentment of a life taken up some ideal, any ideal! A gentle trap to catch the infinite, like the sun in a piece of mirror in a child's hand.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/oh-the-joy-of-an-id-e-fixe-the-contentment-of-a-life-taken-up-some/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/georges-rodenbach-9570_children_oh-the-joy-of-an-id-e-fixe-the-contentme_1584158.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/georges-rodenbach-9570_children_oh-the-joy-of-an-id-e-fixe-the-contentme_1584158.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/georges-rodenbach-9570_children_oh-the-joy-of-an-id-e-fixe-the-contentme_1584158.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Oh the joy of an idée fixe! The contentment of a life taken up some ideal, any ideal! A gentle trap to catch…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Bruges was his dead wife. And his dead wife was Bruges. The two were united in a like destiny. It was Bruges-la-Morte, the dead town entombed in its stone quais, with the arteries of its canals cold once the great pulse of the sea had ceased beating in them.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/bruges-was-his-dead-wife-and-his-dead-wife-was-bruges-the-two-were/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/190/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_bruges-was-his-dead-wife-and-his-dead-wi_2552945.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/190/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_bruges-was-his-dead-wife-and-his-dead-wi_2552945.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/190/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_bruges-was-his-dead-wife-and-his-dead-wi_2552945.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Bruges was his dead wife. And his dead wife was Bruges. The two were united in a like destiny. It was…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 6,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Ornamentation, festoons, carvings, cartouches, bas-reliefs, countless surprises among the sculptures - and the tones of the facades weathered by time and rain, the pinks of fading twilight, smoky blues, misty greys, a richness of mildew, brickwork ripened by the years, the hues of a ruddy or anaemic complexion.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/ornamentation-festoons-carvings-cartouches-bas-reliefs-countless/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2b/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_ornamentation-festoons-carvings-cartouch_2417242.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2b/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_ornamentation-festoons-carvings-cartouch_2417242.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2b/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_ornamentation-festoons-carvings-cartouch_2417242.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Ornamentation, festoons, carvings, cartouches, bas-reliefs, countless surprises among the sculptures - and…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 7,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“But any great happiness is a bright light, a challenge to fate to do its worst. There must not be people who are too happy. They would discourage all the rest, to whom life grants nothing more than unexceptional moments, intermittent joys, roses that have to be watered with tears.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/but-any-great-happiness-is-a-bright-light-a-challenge-to-fate-to-do/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/georges-rodenbach-9570_fate_but-any-great-happiness-is-a-bright-ligh_2499710.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/georges-rodenbach-9570_fate_but-any-great-happiness-is-a-bright-ligh_2499710.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/georges-rodenbach-9570_fate_but-any-great-happiness-is-a-bright-ligh_2499710.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“But any great happiness is a bright light, a challenge to fate to do its worst. There must not be people who…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 8,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The man did not attempt to deny it: 'Yes! It's the fault of this town.' The woman, pale and mournful, agreed: 'It's not our fault. Death is stronger than Love here.' (\"The Dead Town\")”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-man-did-not-attempt-to-deny-it-yes-it-s-the-fault-of-this-town/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b8/georges-rodenbach-9570_death_the-man-did-not-attempt-to-deny-it-yes-i_2333788.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b8/georges-rodenbach-9570_death_the-man-did-not-attempt-to-deny-it-yes-i_2333788.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b8/georges-rodenbach-9570_death_the-man-did-not-attempt-to-deny-it-yes-i_2333788.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The man did not attempt to deny it: 'Yes! It's the fault of this town.' The woman, pale and mournful…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 9,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“He felt alone, prey to the tedium, to the dreariness of time, especially at the approach of twilight which, during those late-autumn days, came in through the windows, settling on the furniture with a leaden pallor, sending the mirrors into mourning at light's farewell ...”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/he-felt-alone-prey-to-the-tedium-to-the-dreariness-of-time-especially/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/033/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_he-felt-alone-prey-to-the-tedium-to-the_265158.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/033/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_he-felt-alone-prey-to-the-tedium-to-the_265158.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/033/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_he-felt-alone-prey-to-the-tedium-to-the_265158.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“He felt alone, prey to the tedium, to the dreariness of time, especially at the approach of twilight which…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 10,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Opposite is the old bell-tower of a church, all the more moving for being unfinished. What beauty there is in interrupted towers, which continue in dream and which we all complete within ourselves!”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/opposite-is-the-old-bell-tower-of-a-church-all-the-more-moving-for/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e7/georges-rodenbach-9570_beauty_opposite-is-the-old-bell-tower-of-a-chur_1161645.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e7/georges-rodenbach-9570_beauty_opposite-is-the-old-bell-tower-of-a-chur_1161645.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e7/georges-rodenbach-9570_beauty_opposite-is-the-old-bell-tower-of-a-chur_1161645.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Opposite is the old bell-tower of a church, all the more moving for being unfinished. What beauty there is…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 11,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Even during the nights, their nights punctuated by unending kisses, they were sometimes irritated by the carillon, which sounded every quarter of an hour from the top of the belfry opposite. A slow, indistinct jingling which seemed to come from far, far away, from the depths of childhood, from the depths of the ages. It was like a dead bouquet falling, an autumn of sound shedding its leaves over the town. (\"The Dead Town\")”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/even-during-the-nights-their-nights-punctuated-by-unending-kisses/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c63/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_even-during-the-nights-their-nights-punc_3144015.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c63/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_even-during-the-nights-their-nights-punc_3144015.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c63/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_even-during-the-nights-their-nights-punc_3144015.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Even during the nights, their nights punctuated by unending kisses, they were sometimes irritated by the…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 12,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Does it not sometimes happen in life that our actions are solely for an enemy, so as to stand up to him, to confound him, to humiliate him by a finer effort or a more difficult victory? Without him we might perhaps give up. Having an enemy stimulates us, gives us strength. In him we hope to defeat the universe and the malevolence of fate.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/does-it-not-sometimes-happen-in-life-that-our-actions-are-solely-for/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d5/georges-rodenbach-9570_enemy_does-it-not-sometimes-happen-in-life-tha_386723.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d5/georges-rodenbach-9570_enemy_does-it-not-sometimes-happen-in-life-tha_386723.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d5/georges-rodenbach-9570_enemy_does-it-not-sometimes-happen-in-life-tha_386723.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Does it not sometimes happen in life that our actions are solely for an enemy, so as to stand up to him, to…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 13,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Nothing goes unobserved in that strict town where people lack occupation. Malicious curiosity there has even invented what is known as a busybody, that is a double mirror fixed to the outside of the windowledge so that the streets can be monitored even from inside the houses, all the comings and goings watched, a kind of trap to catch all the exits and entrances the encounters and gestures that do not realize they are being observed, the looks that prove everything.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/nothing-goes-unobserved-in-that-strict-town-where-people-lack/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/georges-rodenbach-9570_gossip_nothing-goes-unobserved-in-that-strict-t_1604663.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/georges-rodenbach-9570_gossip_nothing-goes-unobserved-in-that-strict-t_1604663.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/georges-rodenbach-9570_gossip_nothing-goes-unobserved-in-that-strict-t_1604663.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Nothing goes unobserved in that strict town where people lack occupation. Malicious curiosity there has even…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 14,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Oh, the sudden change of perspective brought about by travel and absence! How different everything was here: the people in the streets, the houses, the color of the air, the sky above the roofs, a low sky, very close, with molded clouds, and which looked as if it had come out of a painting. A unique setting, a subtle atmosphere of silvery greys, the patina of centuries on the old walls—a shimmering marvel for the eyes of a painter. (\"The Dead Town\")”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/oh-the-sudden-change-of-perspective-brought-about-by-travel-and/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a60/georges-rodenbach-9570_change_oh-the-sudden-change-of-perspective-brou_70688.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a60/georges-rodenbach-9570_change_oh-the-sudden-change-of-perspective-brou_70688.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a60/georges-rodenbach-9570_change_oh-the-sudden-change-of-perspective-brou_70688.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Oh, the sudden change of perspective brought about by travel and absence! How different everything was here…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 15,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Now Borluut was seeing it from close to. And to its very end, it seemed, from the way the line of the horizon merged into the infinite. It was bare. Not one ship. It ground out a dirge, in a glaucous tone, opaque, uniform. One sensed that all the colours were below, but faded. At the edge, the waves spilling onto the shore made a sound of washerwomen beating sheets of white linen, a whole supply of shrouds for future storms.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/now-borluut-was-seeing-it-from-close-to-and-to-its-very-end-it-seemed/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/92f/georges-rodenbach-9570_beach_now-borluut-was-seeing-it-from-close-to_214601.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/92f/georges-rodenbach-9570_beach_now-borluut-was-seeing-it-from-close-to_214601.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/92f/georges-rodenbach-9570_beach_now-borluut-was-seeing-it-from-close-to_214601.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Now Borluut was seeing it from close to. And to its very end, it seemed, from the way the line of the…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 16,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“As he made his way back to his home on the Dijver, along the canals, beside the calm waters, Borluut felt his regret, his \tremorse at having divulged his worries grow at the sight of the noble swans, sealed-in snow, which, prisoners of the canals, prey to the rain, the sadness of the bells, the shadow of the gables, have the modesty to remain silent and only complain, with a voice that is almost human, when they are about to die...”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/as-he-made-his-way-back-to-his-home-on-the-dijver-along-the-canals/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/485/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_as-he-made-his-way-back-to-his-home-on-t_2558468.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/485/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_as-he-made-his-way-back-to-his-home-on-t_2558468.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/485/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_as-he-made-his-way-back-to-his-home-on-t_2558468.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“As he made his way back to his home on the Dijver, along the canals, beside the calm waters, Borluut felt…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 17,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Gripped by a feverish urge to climb, he felt like running up the stone stairs. People often talk of the attraction of the abyss. There is also the abyss above. Borluut was still going up; he would have liked to keep on going up for ever, melancholy at the thought that the stairway was doubtless going to stop and that at the end, on the edge of the air, he would still yearn to continue, go farther, higher.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/gripped-by-a-feverish-urge-to-climb-he-felt-like-running-up-the-stone/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16c/georges-rodenbach-9570_abyss_gripped-by-a-feverish-urge-to-climb-he-f_2902706.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16c/georges-rodenbach-9570_abyss_gripped-by-a-feverish-urge-to-climb-he-f_2902706.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16c/georges-rodenbach-9570_abyss_gripped-by-a-feverish-urge-to-climb-he-f_2902706.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Gripped by a feverish urge to climb, he felt like running up the stone stairs. People often talk of the…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 18,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The carillon is, after all, the music of the people. Elsewhere, in the glittering capitals, public festivals are celebrated with fireworks, that magical offering that can thrill the very soul. Here, in the meditative land of Flanders, among the damp mists so antagonistic to the brilliance of fire, the carillon takes their place. It is a display of fireworks that one hears: flares, rockets, showers, a thousand sparks of sound which colour the air for visionary eyes alerted by hearing.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-carillon-is-after-all-the-music-of-the-people-elsewhere-in-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_the-carillon-is-after-all-the-music-of-t_1812834.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_the-carillon-is-after-all-the-music-of-t_1812834.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/georges-rodenbach-9570_bells_the-carillon-is-after-all-the-music-of-t_1812834.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The carillon is, after all, the music of the people. Elsewhere, in the glittering capitals, public festivals…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 19,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“He discovered another bell, huge as well, but not plain and bare. Its metal sides were covered in scenes, bas-reliefs spreading their greenish lace over the bronze dress. Its casting mould must have been as complicated as the plate for an etching. From a distance Borluut could make out figures, hazy scenes, but the bell was too high above to make out precisely what they represented. Seized with curiosity, he found a pair of stepladders and climbed up until he was close to them. The bronze was a wild orgy, a drunken, obscene carnival; naked satyrs and women were swirling round the bell, its curve giving movement to their saraband. At intervals couples had tumbled to the ground, piling up, body against body, mouth to mouth, flesh mingling in the fury of desire. The bronze picked out, emphasized the details... The vine of sin with its feverish fancies, clinging, thrusting up, falling back down the sides - and the breasts plundered like bunches of grapes! Here and there, away from the rest, on a curve of the bell far from the stampede of the dance, were lovers silently enjoying their love like a fruit. They looked as if they were each, through the other, discovering their naked flesh, which was not yet ripe for sensual pleasure. The idyllic retreats apart, Sex was everywhere triumphant, howling cynical.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/he-discovered-another-bell-huge-as-well-but-not-plain-and-bare-its/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/georges-rodenbach-9570_bell_he-discovered-another-bell-huge-as-well_2465558.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/georges-rodenbach-9570_bell_he-discovered-another-bell-huge-as-well_2465558.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21d/georges-rodenbach-9570_bell_he-discovered-another-bell-huge-as-well_2465558.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“He discovered another bell, huge as well, but not plain and bare. Its metal sides were covered in scenes…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 20,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Besides that, his secret - and principal - reason for retiring was to devote himself entirely to his idée fixe, his collection which was becoming ever larger and more complicated. Van Hulle's concern was no longer simply to have beautiful clocks or rare timepieces; his feelings for them were not simply those one has for inanimate objects. True, their outward appearance was still important, their craftsmanship, their mechanisms, heir value as works of art, but the fact that he had collected so many was for a different reason entirely. It was a result of his strange preoccupation with the exact time. It was no longer enough for him that they were interesting. He was irritated by the differences in time they showed. Above all when they struck the hours and the quarters. One, very old, was deranged and got confused in keeping count of the passage of time, which it had been doing for so long. Others were behind, little Empire clocks with children's voices almost, as if they had not quite grown up. In short, the clocks were always at variance. They seemed to be running after each other, calling out, getting lost, looking for each other at all the changing crossroads of time.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/besides-that-his-secret-and-principal-reason-for-retiring-was-to/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/georges-rodenbach-9570_clock_besides-that-his-secret-and-principal-re_1238392.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/georges-rodenbach-9570_clock_besides-that-his-secret-and-principal-re_1238392.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/georges-rodenbach-9570_clock_besides-that-his-secret-and-principal-re_1238392.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Besides that, his secret - and principal - reason for retiring was to devote himself entirely to his idée…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 21,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The act of writing itself is like an act of love. There is contact. There is exchange too. We no longer know whether the words come out of the ink onto the page, or whether they emerge from the page itself where they were sleeping, the ink merely giving them colour.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-act-of-writing-itself-is-like-an-act-of-love-there-is-contact/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_letter-writing_the-act-of-writing-itself-is-like-an-act_2949371.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_letter-writing_the-act-of-writing-itself-is-like-an-act_2949371.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_letter-writing_the-act-of-writing-itself-is-like-an-act_2949371.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The act of writing itself is like an act of love. There is contact. There is exchange too. We no longer know…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 22,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“That is the way it is, we always fall in love because of a detail, a nuance. It is a marker we set up for ourselves in the midst of the confusion, in the infinite space of love. The greatest passions come from such little causes.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/that-is-the-way-it-is-we-always-fall-in-love-because-of-a-detail-a/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b4e/georges-rodenbach-9570_detail_that-is-the-way-it-is-we-always-fall-in_468514.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b4e/georges-rodenbach-9570_detail_that-is-the-way-it-is-we-always-fall-in_468514.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b4e/georges-rodenbach-9570_detail_that-is-the-way-it-is-we-always-fall-in_468514.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“That is the way it is, we always fall in love because of a detail, a nuance. It is a marker we set up for…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 23,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The only man who is truly happy is a man who has an idée fixe. It takes up his every minute, fills any empty spaces in his thought, sneaks unexpected pleasures into his boredom, gives direction to his idle hours, again and again enlivens the stagnant waters of existence with a surging current.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/the-only-man-who-is-truly-happy-is-a-man-who-has-an-id-e-fixe-it/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_empty-space_the-only-man-who-is-truly-happy-is-a-man_2875098.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_empty-space_the-only-man-who-is-truly-happy-is-a-man_2875098.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a00/georges-rodenbach-9570_empty-space_the-only-man-who-is-truly-happy-is-a-man_2875098.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The only man who is truly happy is a man who has an idée fixe. It takes up his every minute, fills any empty…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 24,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Oh, the joy of the arrival of a child, which is both the one and the other, a mirror in which husband and wife, who love each other, can see each other in one single face.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/oh-the-joy-of-the-arrival-of-a-child-which-is-both-the-one-and-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/georges-rodenbach-9570_child_oh-the-joy-of-the-arrival-of-a-child-whi_1887950.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/georges-rodenbach-9570_child_oh-the-joy-of-the-arrival-of-a-child-whi_1887950.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/georges-rodenbach-9570_child_oh-the-joy-of-the-arrival-of-a-child-whi_1887950.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Oh, the joy of the arrival of a child, which is both the one and the other, a mirror in which husband and…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 25,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“...without knowing why, he yielded to the temptation of those lips and flung onto them, eating them, partaking of their sacrament... Eucharist of love with a red host!”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/without-knowing-why-he-yielded-to-the-temptation-of-those-lips-and/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/georges-rodenbach-9570_kiss_without-knowing-why-he-yielded-to-the-te_2153492.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/georges-rodenbach-9570_kiss_without-knowing-why-he-yielded-to-the-te_2153492.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/georges-rodenbach-9570_kiss_without-knowing-why-he-yielded-to-the-te_2153492.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“...without knowing why, he yielded to the temptation of those lips and flung onto them, eating them…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 26,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Is this not the collector's exquisite pleasure, that his desire should know no bounds, should reach out into the infinite, should never know full possession which disappoints by its very completeness. O what joy to be able to postpone the fulfillment of desire to infinity!”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/is-this-not-the-collector-s-exquisite-pleasure-that-his-desire-should/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc1/georges-rodenbach-9570_collecting_is-this-not-the-collector-s-exquisite-pl_3102726.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc1/georges-rodenbach-9570_collecting_is-this-not-the-collector-s-exquisite-pl_3102726.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc1/georges-rodenbach-9570_collecting_is-this-not-the-collector-s-exquisite-pl_3102726.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Is this not the collector's exquisite pleasure, that his desire should know no bounds, should reach out into…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 27,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Now they came, spectres in mourning, humbling themselves, ghosts, their eyes the only points of brightness. It was harrowing: a long cortege of shadows. This time silence had come flooding in. Not a sound, not a cry. A silence all the more sinister for being black. There is the white silence of the Beguines' workrooms; it is sweet. Here was a black silence that strikes terror to the heart, slipping past like water, as full of pitfalls as the night. At first all that could be made out was a tangle of crosses, all the raised arms of the crosses of a graveyard. All with their dead.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/now-they-came-spectres-in-mourning-humbling-themselves-ghosts-their/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/755/georges-rodenbach-9570_penitence_now-they-came-spectres-in-mourning-humbl_2494145.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/755/georges-rodenbach-9570_penitence_now-they-came-spectres-in-mourning-humbl_2494145.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/755/georges-rodenbach-9570_penitence_now-they-came-spectres-in-mourning-humbl_2494145.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Now they came, spectres in mourning, humbling themselves, ghosts, their eyes the only points of brightness…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 28,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Dead towns are the Cathedrals of Silence. They, too, have their gargoyles, singular figures, exaggerated, dubious, set in high profile. They stand out from the mass of grey, which takes all it has in the way of character, its twitchings of stagnant life from them. Some have been distorted by solitude, others grimace with a directionless fervour; here there are masks of cherished lust, there faces ceaselessly sculpted and furrowed by mysticism. Human gargoyles, the only figures of interest in this monotonous population.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/dead-towns-are-the-cathedrals-of-silence-they-too-have-their/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a42/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_dead-towns-are-the-cathedrals-of-silence_307596.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a42/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_dead-towns-are-the-cathedrals-of-silence_307596.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a42/georges-rodenbach-9570_bruges_dead-towns-are-the-cathedrals-of-silence_307596.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Dead towns are the Cathedrals of Silence. They, too, have their gargoyles, singular figures, exaggerated…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 29,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“It was a delicate task, too, for the danger was twofold: on the one hand not to restore would mean losing precious vestiges which are a town's armorial bearings, the past ennobling the present; on the other hand there was the danger of restoring too much, rejuvenating, replacing stone with stone to the point where the house or the monument had lost everything of its survival through the centuries, was nothing but a sham, a deceiving copy, the wax mask of a mummy, substituted instead of its authentic face moulded by the centuries.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/it-was-a-delicate-task-too-for-the-danger-was-twofold-on-the-one-hand/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f23/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_it-was-a-delicate-task-too-for-the-dange_2419305.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f23/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_it-was-a-delicate-task-too-for-the-dange_2419305.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f23/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_it-was-a-delicate-task-too-for-the-dange_2419305.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“It was a delicate task, too, for the danger was twofold: on the one hand not to restore would mean losing…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 30,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Bruges had the air of a ghost town. The high towers, the trees along the canals withdrew, absorbed by the same muslin: impenetrable fog with not a single rift. Even the carillon seemed to have to escape, to force its way out of a prison yard filled with cotton wool to be free in the air, to reach the gables over which, every quarter of an hour, the bells poured, like falling leaves, a melancholy autumn of music.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Georges Rodenbach"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/bruges-had-the-air-of-a-ghost-town-the-high-towers-the-trees-along/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53c/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_bruges-had-the-air-of-a-ghost-town-the-h_1273066.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53c/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_bruges-had-the-air-of-a-ghost-town-the-h_1273066.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53c/georges-rodenbach-9570_autumn_bruges-had-the-air-of-a-ghost-town-the-h_1273066.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Bruges had the air of a ghost town. The high towers, the trees along the canals withdrew, absorbed by the…” — Georges Rodenbach",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "Person",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/#person",
            "name": "Georges Rodenbach",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/",
            "image": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-georges-rodenbach-38123.jpg"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ProfilePage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/page/2/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/page/2/",
            "name": "Georges Rodenbach",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/#person"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/georges-rodenbach-9570_architecture_they-needed-to-take-action-make-haste-em_1597793.jpg"
            },
            "description": "Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist. Browse 70 Georges Rodenbach quotes.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/page/2/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/page/2/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Authors",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/authors/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Georges Rodenbach",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/page/2/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```