Beautiful life Quote by Gustave Flaubert
““Open them, weak yet proud man, pitiful ant that struggles to crawl over its speck of dust! You declare yourself free and great, and for all the wretchedness of your life you hold yourself in high esteem, celebrating – no doubt in a spirit of derision – your rotten and transient flesh. And then you imagine that this beautiful life, lived out between a little pride that you call greatness, and that base selfinterest which is at the heart of your society, will be rewarded by some form of immortality. Immortality for you – more lascivious than the monkey, more evil than the tiger, more crawling than the serpent? Come on! Show me a paradise for the monkey, the tiger, the snake, a paradise of lust, of cruelty and baseness, a paradise of selfishness – eternity for this dust, immortality for this nothingness. You boast of being free and of being able to do what you call good and evil? Doubtless so that you can be denounced more rapidly, for what good can you possibly do? Is a single one of your gestures produced by anything other than pride or self-interest?””
About This Quote
The passage condemns human pride and the illusion of immortality, arguing that all actions stem from selfishness and that any claim to moral goodness is tainted by self‑interest.
In simple terms: Human pride masks selfish motives and false hopes of lasting legacy.
Key Takeaway
Recognize humility and question motives behind claims of greatness.
Themes
pride
mortality
human nature
ethics
illusion
Mood
critical
skeptical
reflective
Type
philosophical
critical
literary
When to use this quote
- political discourse
- personal reflection
- literary analysis
- philosophical debate
Key Concepts
existentialism
moral philosophy
nihilism
Questions to Reflect On
- What drives your actions more: pride or genuine concern for others?
- Can true goodness exist without self‑interest?
A Different Perspective
The argument may overlook genuine altruism and the capacity for self‑less acts.
