--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Emile Saint-Blague had been a lively…" description: "\"Emile Saint-Blague had been a lively, versatile painter in his youth, but he had abused his energy by painting too many pictures; so that in what might..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/laura-riding-9995_art_emile-saint-blague-had-been-a-lively-ver_2191963.jpg" --- # Emile Saint-Blague had been a lively, versatile painter in… ![“Emile Saint-Blague had been a lively, versatile painter in his youth, but he had abused his energy by painting too many pictures; so that in what might have been the ripe period of his art he had nothing left but ideas. A man who has nothing left but ideas may be of great service to his friends…” quote by Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/laura-riding-9995_art_emile-saint-blague-had-been-a-lively-ver_2191963.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/laura-riding-9995_art_emile-saint-blague-had-been-a-lively-ver_2191963.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/laura-riding-9995_art_emile-saint-blague-had-been-a-lively-ver_2191963.jpg) > “Emile Saint-Blague had been a lively, versatile painter in his youth, but he had abused his energy by painting too many pictures; so that in what might have been the ripe period of his art he had nothing left but ideas. A man who has nothing left but ideas may be of great service to his friends, but he is of no use at all to himself. Emile was certainly an inspiration to his friends.” [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Excessive output can deplete creative energy, leaving only ideas that benefit others but not oneself. **In simple terms:** Too much work drains personal usefulness. Key Takeaway Balance creation with rest. Themes creativity balance self‑care Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical advisory When to use this quote - artist burnout - project overload - personal development Key Concepts energy depletion idea generation Questions to Reflect On - How do you know when to pause? - What limits does over‑producing set? A Different Perspective Ideas alone cannot sustain personal growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Emile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emile-54716/) [Emile Certainly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emile-certainly-4778698/) [Energy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/energy/) [Great service](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-service/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Inspiration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiration/) [Inspiration Friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiration-friends-1140110/) [Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left/) [Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lively/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Might](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might/) [Might have been](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might-have-been/) [Painter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painter/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Periods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/periods/) [Ripe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ripe/) [Saint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/saint/) [Use](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/use/) [Versatile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/versatile/) [Versatile Painter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/versatile-painter-4778697/) [Youth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/youth/) ## Related quotes > [L.I.F.E L: Love I: Inspiration F: Friends E: Enemies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-swenson/l-i-f-e-l-love-i-inspiration-f-friends-e-enemies/) [Emma Swenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-swenson/) > [I don't have any style icons, but I get inspiration from my friends. My style motto is that it is better to be overdressed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kearney/i-don-t-have-any-style-icons-but-i-get-inspiration-from-my-friends-my/) [Hannah Kearney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kearney/) > [I get inspiration everywhere - by my friends, my family, and mostly love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leighton-meester/i-get-inspiration-everywhere-by-my-friends-my-family-and-mostly-love/) [Leighton Meester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leighton-meester/) > [“Emile was not like you, not attached to houses. For you, houses are like people, are they not, they have a soul, a heart,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tatiana-de-rosnay/emile-was-not-like-you-not-attached-to-houses-for-you-houses-are-like/) [Tatiana de Rosnay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tatiana-de-rosnay/) > [“More than half of my life is past; I have left only the time I need for turning the rest of it to account…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rousseau-jean-jacques-2/more-than-half-of-my-life-is-past-i-have-left-only-the-time-i-need/) [Rousseau, Jean-Jacques](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rousseau-jean-jacques-2/) > [My friend and I were making each other things and this is one I love her and always will fyi :EMILE: Termindergirl something like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria/my-friend-and-i-were-making-each-other-things-and-this-is-one-i-love/) [Maria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria/) > [“Quand on veut dessecher un marais, on ne fait pas voter les grenouilles. — Mme. EMILE. DE GIRADIN”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-mary-yonge/quand-on-veut-dessecher-un-marais-on-ne-fait-pas-voter-les/) [Charlotte Mary Yonge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-mary-yonge/) > [“Emile was a journalist who had acquired more reputation by doing nothing than others from a successful productive career. A bold, biting, spirited critic,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/emile-was-a-journalist-who-had-acquired-more-reputation-by-doing/) [Honoré de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [“Which one are you sleeping with, the baron or his sister?” Percy looked amused. “Both, on occasion.” “Together?” The smile widened. His teeth were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/which-one-are-you-sleeping-with-the-baron-or-his-sister-percy-looked/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [“Our wisdom is slavish prejudice, our customs consist in control, constraint, compulsion. Civilised man is born and dies a slave. The infant is bound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau-2/our-wisdom-is-slavish-prejudice-our-customs-consist-in-control/) [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau-2/) > [“I grab him before he can run off. "I love you." But it's not just Emile's voice that answers me. Five others join in.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saxon-james/i-grab-him-before-he-can-run-off-i-love-you-but-it-s-not-just-emile-s/) [Saxon James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saxon-james/) > [Getting service right is more than just a nice to do; it's a must do. American consumers are willing to spend more with companies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-bush/getting-service-right-is-more-than-just-a-nice-to-do-it-s-a-must-do/) [Jim Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-bush/) > [The national strike of the miners in 1972 performed, I believe, a great service, not only to the miners, but the people in Britain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-foot/the-national-strike-of-the-miners-in-1972-performed-i-believe-a-great/) [Michael Foot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-foot/) > [Jonathan Wells has done us all - the scientific community, educators, and the wider public - a great service. In Icons of Evolution he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-h-kenyon/jonathan-wells-has-done-us-all-the-scientific-community-educators-and/) [Dean H. Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-h-kenyon/) > [You're offering a great service. People are tuning in. So continue to find great people, continue to do what you're doing. And do it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/you-re-offering-a-great-service-people-are-tuning-in-so-continue-to/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) ## More by Laura Riding > [I believe that misconceptions about oneself that one does not correct where possible act as a bad magic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/i-believe-that-misconceptions-about-oneself-that-one-does-not-correct/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [To a poet the mere making of a poem can seem to solve the problem of truth…but only a problem of art is solved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/to-a-poet-the-mere-making-of-a-poem-can-seem-to-solve-the-problem-of/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Evil I had never found satisfactorily placeable as an integral element of the universal, or total, content of existence. Indeed, evil is evil just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/evil-i-had-never-found-satisfactorily-placeable-as-an-integral/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [“Forgive me, giver, if I destroy the gift: it is so nearly what would please me I cannot but perfect it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/forgive-me-giver-if-i-destroy-the-gift-it-is-so-nearly-what-would/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The new "ambiguity" means, in a way adjudged favorable to literary, poetic, intellectually and psychologically well-devised and praiseworthily executed linguistic performance, uncertainty of meaning,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-new-ambiguity-means-in-a-way-adjudged-favorable-to-literary/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Conversation succeeds conversation, Until there's nothing left to talk about Except truth, the perennial monologue, And no talker to dispute it but itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/conversation-succeeds-conversation-until-there-s-nothing-left-to-talk/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Women, ever since there have been women, have had a way of being people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/women-ever-since-there-have-been-women-have-had-a-way-of-being-people/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [ She \[Venison\] had never travelled and so could invent all kinds of strange places without being limited, as travelled people are, by knowledge of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/she-venison-had-never-travelled-and-so-could-invent-all-kinds-of/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [rummaging in the storehouses of religious or literary history for myth-matter for ideational uses is of the nature of spiritual vulgarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/rummaging-in-the-storehouses-of-religious-or-literary-history-for/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The terms 'male' and 'female' must be understood as representing no mere primitive opposition of sex to sex; but as defining two worlds of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-terms-male-and-female-must-be-understood-as-representing-no-mere/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The object of all religious activity is to mingle the human and the non-human, and the lower gods represent that which is cast back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-object-of-all-religious-activity-is-to-mingle-the-human-and-the/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Women are strangers in the country of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/women-are-strangers-in-the-country-of-man/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Every thought sounds like a footfall, Till a thought like a boot kicks down the wall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/every-thought-sounds-like-a-footfall-till-a-thought-like-a-boot-kicks/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Politics have always covered two distinct kinds of problems: problems of administrative routine, and those that may be called 'questions of the moment.' A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/politics-have-always-covered-two-distinct-kinds-of-problems-problems/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [To tell one comprehensive story of how it has happened that what is is, one which shall hold true, come what may, now-after -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/to-tell-one-comprehensive-story-of-how-it-has-happened-that-what-is/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) [Explore all 68 Laura Riding quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Emile Saint-Blague had been a lively, versatile painter in his youth, but he had abused his energy by painting too many pictures; so that in what might have been the ripe period of his art he had nothing left but ideas. 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