--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Being a useful man has always seemed to…" description: "\"Being a useful man has always seemed to me to be something truly hideous.\" — Charles Baudelaire" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58a/charles-baudelaire-473_hideous_being-a-useful-man-has-always-seemed-to_1063103.jpg" --- # Being a useful man has always seemed to me to be something… ![“Being a useful man has always seemed to me to be something truly hideous.” quote by Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58a/charles-baudelaire-473_hideous_being-a-useful-man-has-always-seemed-to_1063103.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58a/charles-baudelaire-473_hideous_being-a-useful-man-has-always-seemed-to_1063103.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58a/charles-baudelaire-473_hideous_being-a-useful-man-has-always-seemed-to_1063103.jpg) > “Being a useful man has always seemed to me to be something truly hideous.” [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Being useful feels hideous because it can betray authentic self and artistic integrity. **In simple terms:** Utility can feel dehumanizing. Key Takeaway Balance usefulness with authenticity. Themes purpose authenticity artistry Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - career choices - artistic projects - volunteering - personal branding Key Concepts existentialism social expectation creative tension Questions to Reflect On - What does “useful” mean to you? - When does usefulness support, rather than hinder, your values? A Different Perspective Utility may be necessary for survival. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Idleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idleness/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) ## Related quotes > [Etre un homme utile m'a paru toujours quelque chose de bien hideux. To be useful has always seemed to me quite hideous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/etre-un-homme-utile-m-a-paru-toujours-quelque-chose-de-bien-hideux-to/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Nothing is more useful to man that those arts which have no utility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/nothing-is-more-useful-to-man-that-those-arts-which-have-no-utility/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [Every industrious man, in every lawful calling, is a useful man. And one principal reason why men are so often useless is that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/every-industrious-man-in-every-lawful-calling-is-a-useful-man-and-one/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/every-day-is-lost-in-which-we-do-not-learn-something-useful-man-has/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“I expect more from my life than the opportunity to be useful to a man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-wright/i-expect-more-from-my-life-than-the-opportunity-to-be-useful-to-a-man/) [Kim Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-wright/) > [“Like most other things not apparently useful to man, it has few friends, and the blind question, "Why was it made?" goes on and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/like-most-other-things-not-apparently-useful-to-man-it-has-few/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [“...Orm always afterwards used to say that, after good luck, strength, and skill at arms, nothing was so useful to a man who found…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-g-bengtsson/orm-always-afterwards-used-to-say-that-after-good-luck-strength-and/) [Frans G. Bengtsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-g-bengtsson/) > [Nothing can be more useful to a man than a determination not to be hurried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/nothing-can-be-more-useful-to-a-man-than-a-determination-not-to-be/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The most useful man in the most useful world, so long as only commodity was served, would remain unsatisfied. But, as fast as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-most-useful-man-in-the-most-useful-world-so-long-as-only/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [From Satan or from God, what matter? Angel or Siren, What matter, if you make - fairy with velvet eyes, Rhythm, perfume, light, o…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/from-satan-or-from-god-what-matter-angel-or-siren-what-matter-if-you/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Love is the natural occupation of the man of leisure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/love-is-the-natural-occupation-of-the-man-of-leisure/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [A Dandy does nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/a-dandy-does-nothing/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Time, for a man who has never truly felt a second of it, it not a great sacrifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephine-hart/time-for-a-man-who-has-never-truly-felt-a-second-of-it-it-not-a-great/) [Josephine Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josephine-hart/) > [Man is truly great when he can act from his passions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/man-is-truly-great-when-he-can-act-from-his-passions/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Every man lives. Not every man truly dies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/necro/every-man-lives-not-every-man-truly-dies/) [Necro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/necro/) ## More by Charles Baudelaire > [Who would dare assign to art the sterile function of imitating nature?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/who-would-dare-assign-to-art-the-sterile-function-of-imitating-nature/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire “The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-greatest-trick-the-devil-ever-pulled-was-convincing-the-world-he/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“This life is a hospital in which each patient is possessed by the desire to change beds. One wants to suffer in front of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/this-life-is-a-hospital-in-which-each-patient-is-possessed-by-the/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-long-piece-of-work-except-one-that-you/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [But the true voyagers are only those who leave Just to be leaving; hearts light, like balloons, They never turn aside from their fatality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/but-the-true-voyagers-are-only-those-who-leave-just-to-be-leaving/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Amer savoir, celui qu'on tire du voyage! Bitter is the knowledge gained in travelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/amer-savoir-celui-qu-on-tire-du-voyage-bitter-is-the-knowledge-gained/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“Car je cherche le vide, el le noir, el le nu!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/car-je-cherche-le-vide-el-le-noir-el-le-nu/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“I can barely conceive a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-can-barely-conceive-a-type-of-beauty-in-which-there-is-no-melancholy/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [The vices of man, as full of horror as one might suppose them to be, contain the proof (if in nothing else but their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-vices-of-man-as-full-of-horror-as-one-might-suppose-them-to-be/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Multitude, solitude: equal and interchangeable terms for the active and prolific poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/multitude-solitude-equal-and-interchangeable-terms-for-the-active-and/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/any-healthy-man-can-go-without-food-for-two-days-but-not-without/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Drink wine, drink poetry, drink virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/drink-wine-drink-poetry-drink-virtue/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Man loves man so much that when he flees the city, it is still to seek the crowd, that is, to rebuild the city…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/man-loves-man-so-much-that-when-he-flees-the-city-it-is-still-to-seek/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“—But why is she weeping? She, the perfect beauty, Who could put at her feet the conquered human race, What secret malady gnaws at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/but-why-is-she-weeping-she-the-perfect-beauty-who-could-put-at-her/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) [Explore all 454 Charles Baudelaire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## More Hideous quotes > [I shall pray God to send charity into this hideous world, and sympathy for the weak, and love for the unhappy and unfortunate. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wyndham/i-shall-pray-god-to-send-charity-into-this-hideous-world-and-sympathy/) [John Wyndham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wyndham/) > [The universe appears to me like an immense, inexorable torture-garden…Passions, greed, hatred, and lies; social institutions, justice, love, glory, heroism, and religion: these are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octave-mirbeau/the-universe-appears-to-me-like-an-immense-inexorable-torture-garden/) [Octave Mirbeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octave-mirbeau/) > [The history of woman is the history of the continued and universal oppression of one sex by the other. 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Why people insist that globalism, after its hideous history, is a good thing, I do not know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamaica-kincaid/the-slave-trade-was-globalism-why-people-insist-that-globalism-after/) [Jamaica Kincaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamaica-kincaid/) > [Rap's conscious response to the poverty and oppression of U.S. blacks is like some hideous parody of sixties black pride.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/rap-s-conscious-response-to-the-poverty-and-oppression-of-u-s-blacks/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [Kindness is the color in the cathedral window which woven into beautiful characters shuts out the hideous sights of a world which is all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-leonard-gordon/kindness-is-the-color-in-the-cathedral-window-which-woven-into/) James Leonard Gordon > [The more hideous the mental contortions, the greater the delight and bravos of the mass.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-goldman/the-more-hideous-the-mental-contortions-the-greater-the-delight-and/) [Emma Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-goldman/) > [On Bill Clinton: "If left to my own devices, I'd spend all my time pointing out that he's weaker than bus-station chili. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ivins/on-bill-clinton-if-left-to-my-own-devices-i-d-spend-all-my-time/) [Molly Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ivins/) > [Am I hideous, Jane? Very, sir: you always were, you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/am-i-hideous-jane-very-sir-you-always-were-you-know/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [“When the shine is wearing off and the underlying cracks of a garlanded lifestyle become painfully apparent, reality may inexorably take its toll and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/when-the-shine-is-wearing-off-and-the-underlying-cracks-of-a/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [Quite the ugliest face I ever saw was that of a woman whom the world called beautiful. 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