---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Everything for me becomes allegory"
description: "\"Everything for me becomes allegory\" — Charles Baudelaire"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e09/charles-baudelaire-473_allegory_everything-for-me-becomes-allegory-22435_2243587.jpg"
---

#  Everything for me becomes allegory

![“Everything for me becomes allegory” quote by Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e09/charles-baudelaire-473_allegory_everything-for-me-becomes-allegory-22435_2243587.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e09/charles-baudelaire-473_allegory_everything-for-me-becomes-allegory-22435_2243587.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e09/charles-baudelaire-473_allegory_everything-for-me-becomes-allegory-22435_2243587.jpg)

> “Everything for me becomes allegory”

[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.

Everything is interpreted as a symbol, suggesting that life’s experiences are metaphorical.

**In simple terms:** Life is allegory.

Key Takeaway

Seek deeper meaning.

Themes

interpretation symbolism philosophy

Mood

thoughtful introspective

Type

philosophical literary

When to use this quote

- literature analysis
- personal growth
- creative writing

Key Concepts

existentialism artistic perception subjectivity

Questions to Reflect On

- How does viewing life as allegory change your actions?
- When is literal interpretation more useful?

A Different Perspective

Not all experiences fit symbolic frames.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Allegory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/allegory/)

## Related quotes

> [Nature is a word, an allegory, a mold, an embossing, if you will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/nature-is-a-word-an-allegory-a-mold-an-embossing-if-you-will/)

[Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/)

> [Not taking the Bible (or other texts based on 'revealed truths') literally leaves it up to the reader to cherry-pick elements for belief. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-tayler/not-taking-the-bible-or-other-texts-based-on-revealed-truths/)

[Jeffrey Tayler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-tayler/)

> [“On this material plane, each living being is like a street lantern lamp with a dirty lampshade. The inside flame burns evenly and is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/on-this-material-plane-each-living-being-is-like-a-street-lantern/)

[Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/)

> [“This philistinism of interpretation is more rife in literature than in any other art. For decades now, literary critics have understood it to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/this-philistinism-of-interpretation-is-more-rife-in-literature-than/)

[Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/)

> [“The Durhannians' countenance lifted as is the way of Hope. There was a village elder whose eyes flickered with the light of Understanding. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-green-westlake/the-durhannians-countenance-lifted-as-is-the-way-of-hope-there-was-a/)

Laurie Green Westlake

> [It is remarkable how a man cannot summarize his thoughts in even the most general sort of way without betraying himself completely, without putting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/it-is-remarkable-how-a-man-cannot-summarize-his-thoughts-in-even-the/)

[Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/)

> [“Hence all original religions are allegorical, or susceptible of allegory, and, like Janus, have a double face of false and true”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/hence-all-original-religions-are-allegorical-or-susceptible-of/)

[Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/)

> [I don't feel I have to struggle against allegory. I let the readers do the interpreting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/i-don-t-feel-i-have-to-struggle-against-allegory-i-let-the-readers-do/)

[Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/)

> [By a symbol I do not mean an allegory or a sign, but an image that describes in the best possible way the dimly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/by-a-symbol-i-do-not-mean-an-allegory-or-a-sign-but-an-image-that/)

[Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/)

> [The fumes of the most disordered imaginations were recorded in their religious code, as special communications of the Deity; and as it could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-fumes-of-the-most-disordered-imaginations-were-recorded-in-their/)

[Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/)

> [“However, as a guarantee of its renewed youth, the symbolical phoenix never reappeared before the eyes of the world without having consumed solemnly the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliphas-levi/however-as-a-guarantee-of-its-renewed-youth-the-symbolical-phoenix/)

[Éliphas Lévi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliphas-levi/)

> [A fairytale is not an allegory. There may be allegory in it, but it is not an allegory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-macdonald/a-fairytale-is-not-an-allegory-there-may-be-allegory-in-it-but-it-is/)

[George MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-macdonald/)

> [Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/allegories-are-in-the-realm-of-thought-what-ruins-are-in-the-realm-of/)

[Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/)

> [I think cinema is closer to allegories than to reality. It's closer to our dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-think-cinema-is-closer-to-allegories-than-to-reality-it-s-closer-to/)

[Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/)

> [Science fiction is a weird category, because it's the only area of fiction I can think of where the story is not of primary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/science-fiction-is-a-weird-category-because-it-s-the-only-area-of/)

[Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/)

## 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 Allegory quotes

> [Science fiction is a weird category, because it's the only area of fiction I can think of where the story is not of primary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/science-fiction-is-a-weird-category-because-it-s-the-only-area-of/)

[Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/)

> [I think cinema is closer to allegories than to reality. It's closer to our dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-think-cinema-is-closer-to-allegories-than-to-reality-it-s-closer-to/)

[Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/)

> [Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/allegories-are-in-the-realm-of-thought-what-ruins-are-in-the-realm-of/)

[Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/)

> [A fairytale is not an allegory. There may be allegory in it, but it is not an allegory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-macdonald/a-fairytale-is-not-an-allegory-there-may-be-allegory-in-it-but-it-is/)

[George MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-macdonald/)

> [“However, as a guarantee of its renewed youth, the symbolical phoenix never reappeared before the eyes of the world without having consumed solemnly the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliphas-levi/however-as-a-guarantee-of-its-renewed-youth-the-symbolical-phoenix/)

[Éliphas Lévi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliphas-levi/)

> [The fumes of the most disordered imaginations were recorded in their religious code, as special communications of the Deity; and as it could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-fumes-of-the-most-disordered-imaginations-were-recorded-in-their/)

[Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/)

> [By a symbol I do not mean an allegory or a sign, but an image that describes in the best possible way the dimly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/by-a-symbol-i-do-not-mean-an-allegory-or-a-sign-but-an-image-that/)

[Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/)

> [I don't feel I have to struggle against allegory. I let the readers do the interpreting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/i-don-t-feel-i-have-to-struggle-against-allegory-i-let-the-readers-do/)

[Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/)

> [“Hence all original religions are allegorical, or susceptible of allegory, and, like Janus, have a double face of false and true”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/hence-all-original-religions-are-allegorical-or-susceptible-of/)

[Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/)

> [It is remarkable how a man cannot summarize his thoughts in even the most general sort of way without betraying himself completely, without putting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/it-is-remarkable-how-a-man-cannot-summarize-his-thoughts-in-even-the/)

[Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/)

> [“The Durhannians' countenance lifted as is the way of Hope. There was a village elder whose eyes flickered with the light of Understanding. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-green-westlake/the-durhannians-countenance-lifted-as-is-the-way-of-hope-there-was-a/)

Laurie Green Westlake

> [“This philistinism of interpretation is more rife in literature than in any other art. For decades now, literary critics have understood it to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/this-philistinism-of-interpretation-is-more-rife-in-literature-than/)

[Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/)

> [“On this material plane, each living being is like a street lantern lamp with a dirty lampshade. The inside flame burns evenly and is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/on-this-material-plane-each-living-being-is-like-a-street-lantern/)

[Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/)

> [Not taking the Bible (or other texts based on 'revealed truths') literally leaves it up to the reader to cherry-pick elements for belief. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-tayler/not-taking-the-bible-or-other-texts-based-on-revealed-truths/)

[Jeffrey Tayler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-tayler/)

> [We each create a story - a narritive, a picture, an allegory, a model - for what's going on in the universe. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-rushkoff/we-each-create-a-story-a-narritive-a-picture-an-allegory-a-model-for/)

[Douglas Rushkoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-rushkoff/)

[Browse all 150 Allegory quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/allegory/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Everything for me becomes allegory",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Charles Baudelaire"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/everything-for-me-becomes-allegory/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Allegory"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/everything-for-me-becomes-allegory/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e09/charles-baudelaire-473_allegory_everything-for-me-becomes-allegory-22435_2243587.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e09/charles-baudelaire-473_allegory_everything-for-me-becomes-allegory-22435_2243587.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e09/charles-baudelaire-473_allegory_everything-for-me-becomes-allegory-22435_2243587.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Everything for me becomes allegory” — Charles Baudelaire",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "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": "Charles Baudelaire",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Everything for me becomes allegory",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/everything-for-me-becomes-allegory/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/everything-for-me-becomes-allegory/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
