--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Kitsch is the most pernicious of all…" description: "\"Kitsch is the most pernicious of all prisons. The bars are covered with the gold of simplistic, unreal feelings, so that you take them for the pillars ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d94/pascal-mercier-4197_bars_kitsch-is-the-most-pernicious-of-all-pri_915632.png" --- # Kitsch is the most pernicious of all prisons. The bars are… ![“Kitsch is the most pernicious of all prisons. The bars are covered with the gold of simplistic, unreal feelings, so that you take them for the pillars of a palace.” quote by Pascal Mercier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d94/pascal-mercier-4197_bars_kitsch-is-the-most-pernicious-of-all-pri_915632.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d94/pascal-mercier-4197_bars_kitsch-is-the-most-pernicious-of-all-pri_915632.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d94/pascal-mercier-4197_bars_kitsch-is-the-most-pernicious-of-all-pri_915632.png) > “Kitsch is the most pernicious of all prisons. The bars are covered with the gold of simplistic, unreal feelings, so that you take them for the pillars of a palace.” [Pascal Mercier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pascal-mercier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Superficial beauty traps us, disguising emptiness as luxury, leading us to mistake false comforts for true fulfillment. **In simple terms:** Shallow comforts hide emptiness. Key Takeaway Seek depth over glitter. Themes materialism illusion freedom Mood reflective critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal relationships - consumer choices - career decisions - art appreciation Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - What comforts might be imprisoning you? - How can you recognize genuine value? A Different Perspective True freedom requires confronting uncomfortable truths. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bars/) [Covered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/covered/) [Deception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deception/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Gold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gold/) [Illusions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusions/) [Kitsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kitsch/) [Kitsch Pernicious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kitsch-pernicious-1376265/) [Palaces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/palaces/) [Pernicious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pernicious/) [Pernicious Prisons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pernicious-prisons-1376266/) [Pillars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pillars/) [Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prison/) [Prisons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prisons/) [Prisons Bars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prisons-bars-976278/) [Self deception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-deception/) [Unreal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unreal/) ## Related quotes > [Not all prisons have bars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-hocking/not-all-prisons-have-bars/) [Amanda Hocking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-hocking/) > [You expect me to believe that you're being held against your will?" I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're roaming around the castle freely." "As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-hocking/you-expect-me-to-believe-that-you-re-being-held-against-your-will-i/) [Amanda Hocking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-hocking/) > [“Not all prisons have bars. You should know that better than anyone, Princess.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-hocking/not-all-prisons-have-bars-you-should-know-that-better-than-anyone/) [Amanda Hocking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-hocking/) > [A kitsch novel describes the world not as it really is, but as it is hoped and feared to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-broch/a-kitsch-novel-describes-the-world-not-as-it-really-is-but-as-it-is/) [Hermann Broch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-broch/) > [Kitsch is very important to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oneohtrix-point-never/kitsch-is-very-important-to-me/) [Oneohtrix Point Never](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oneohtrix-point-never/) > [Modern art was born from a desire to destroy kitsch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-scruton/modern-art-was-born-from-a-desire-to-destroy-kitsch/) [Roger Scruton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-scruton/) > [I did my homework and didn't go out much, and had a very highly developed kitsch fantasy life where I dreamed of being a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-mortimer/i-did-my-homework-and-didn-t-go-out-much-and-had-a-very-highly/) [Emily Mortimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-mortimer/) > [The peasant finds no "natural" urgency within himself that will drive him toward Picasso in spite of all difficulties. In the end the peasant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-peasant-finds-no-natural-urgency-within-himself-that-will-drive/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [If you speak of beauty, you are at once suspected of...kitsch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/if-you-speak-of-beauty-you-are-at-once-suspected-of-kitsch/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [Those who were still able to write beautiful melodies were kitsch composers like Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky approaches true art not in his numerous beautiful melodies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/those-who-were-still-able-to-write-beautiful-melodies-were-kitsch/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [Her kitsch was the image of home, all peace, quiet, and harmony, and ruled by a loving mother and a wise father. It was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/her-kitsch-was-the-image-of-home-all-peace-quiet-and-harmony-and/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Architectural kitsch is most common in the commercial pop vernacular - typified by the Big Duck of 1931 in Flanders, New York, a Long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/architectural-kitsch-is-most-common-in-the-commercial-pop-vernacular/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) > [If you can't take the kitsch, get out of the kitchen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/if-you-can-t-take-the-kitsch-get-out-of-the-kitchen/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [Salvador Dali has been called kitsch, but, although some of this work may be grotesque, its brazenly self-conscious bad taste saves it from being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-dutton/salvador-dali-has-been-called-kitsch-but-although-some-of-this-work/) [Denis Dutton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-dutton/) > [Kitsch of course only comes into existence when we recognize how and why it works.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bayley/kitsch-of-course-only-comes-into-existence-when-we-recognize-how-and/) [John Bayley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bayley/) ## More by Pascal Mercier > [To live for the moment: it sounds so right and so beautiful. 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It is a mistake to believe that the crucial moments of a life when its habitual direction changes forever must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pascal-mercier/nobreza-silenciosa-silent-nobility-it-is-a-mistake-to-believe-that/) [Pascal Mercier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pascal-mercier/) > [“Because the one who wishes it – isn’t the one who, still untouched by the future, stands at the crossroads. Instead, it is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pascal-mercier/because-the-one-who-wishes-it-isn-t-the-one-who-still-untouched-by/) [Pascal Mercier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pascal-mercier/) > [It is not the pain and the wounds that are the worst. The worst is the humiliation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pascal-mercier/it-is-not-the-pain-and-the-wounds-that-are-the-worst-the-worst-is-the/) [Pascal Mercier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pascal-mercier/) > [Isn't it true that it's not people who meet, but rather the shadows cast by their imaginations?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pascal-mercier/isn-t-it-true-that-it-s-not-people-who-meet-but-rather-the-shadows/) [Pascal Mercier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pascal-mercier/) > [Loyalty... 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I also try and start the day with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christie-rampone/while-traveling-i-love-granola-bars-trail-mix-nuts-dry-cereal-and/) [Christie Rampone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christie-rampone/) > [3 people get stranded on a remote Island A Banker, a Daily Mail reader & an Asylum seeker All they have to eat is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-brookmyre/3-people-get-stranded-on-a-remote-island-a-banker-a-daily-mail-reader/) [Christopher Brookmyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-brookmyre/) > [Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house unless they have a well-stocked bar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-c-fields/thou-shalt-not-covet-thy-neighbor-s-house-unless-they-have-a-well/) [W. C. 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