Artist Quote by Paul Laffoley
![“Look at all the stuff the Existentialists did. You can start with [Pablo] Picasso, you know, and then Francis Bacon and other guys like that. What they were doing is depicting suffering. And that's exactly what a demon is, he's pretending that he isn't. So he can get more people down there. You…” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fdd/paul-laffoley-7077_company_look-at-all-the-stuff-the-existentialist_1903239.jpg)
“Look at all the stuff the Existentialists did. You can start with [Pablo] Picasso, you know, and then Francis Bacon and other guys like that. What they were doing is depicting suffering. And that's exactly what a demon is, he's pretending that he isn't. So he can get more people down there. You know, misery loves company, that's the whole thing. So that's basically the pitch that I'm working on.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Interview or presentation, date unknown
The speaker argues that existentialist artists expose suffering, which a demon exploits by denying its own pain to attract more misery, suggesting that shared suffering amplifies despair.
In simple terms: Artists reveal pain; demons deny it to draw more suffering.
Key Takeaway
Recognize and confront hidden pain rather than exploiting it.
Themes
existentialism
art
suffering
deception
psychology
Mood
reflective
critical
thoughtful
Type
analytical
philosophical
interpretive
When to use this quote
- mental health therapy
- art education
- public speaking
- media analysis
Key Concepts
philosophy
psychology
art criticism
Questions to Reflect On
- How does acknowledging suffering change its power?
- Can art heal rather than spread misery?
A Different Perspective
The claim may oversimplify complex artistic motives and demonology.
![“Nothing [the demon] could think up was half as bad as the stuff [people] thought up themselves. They seemed to have a talent for it. It was built into their design somehow. They were born into a world that was against them in a thousand little ways, and then devoted most of their energies to…” quote by Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fcc/neil-gaiman-29_born_nothing-the-demon-could-think-up-was-hal_2188610.jpg)
![“I first heard of [Orfeo Angelucci] from Giuseppe Conti who gave me some books by him.” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b19/paul-laffoley-7077_book_i-first-heard-of-orfeo-angelucci-from-gi_53732.jpg)
![“The whole thing that Dante [Alighieri] did was summed up in the medieval world. It's like St. Thomas Aquinas, the Summa Theologica. He didn't invent it, he just put it all in one package. You get twelve fat books there sitting in any library. Whereas... I think if Joshi thinks [H.P.] Lovecraft was…” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a35/paul-laffoley-7077_book_the-whole-thing-that-dante-alighieri-did_82075.jpg)
![“You know, Mick Jagger's "Sympathy for the Devil." I think it was inspired by that [H.P.Lovecraft stories]. You don't know who's reading what, you know. It just comes out once in a while in the pop culture.” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b25/paul-laffoley-7077_culture_you-know-mick-jagger-s-sympathy-for-the_104239.jpg)
![“At 15 [my father] revolted against his father like any teenager, and said, "I'm out of here! What are you doing to me?" He thought he wouldn't be involved in that kind of stuff for the rest of his life. He just wanted to make money. He was one of those people who took over the family…” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a7c/paul-laffoley-7077_borrowed_at-15-my-father-revolted-against-his-fat_149241.jpg)
![“The Babson Institute, which is now an actual university, was started by this guy [my father] who also had a problem with believing in gravity. And so he started the Babson Institute in New Boston, New Hampshire, which then moved to Gloucester. Each year they have a competition of one thousand…” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cc2/paul-laffoley-7077_believe_the-babson-institute-which-is-now-an-act_213586.jpg)
![“Stephen Hawking won [Babson Institute competition ] one year with his black hole stuff. It's keeping an open mind on whether gravity exists or not. I think my father believed this because ... when the wind blew on him, he'd get angry, because it was something he couldn't control.” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d2f/paul-laffoley-7077_angry_stephen-hawking-won-babson-institute-com_267232.jpg)
![“[My father] was always saying I'd end up like my grandfather. Okay. My grandfather was an architect, I'm an architect. It's true, certain characteristics are similar.” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/683/paul-laffoley-7077_architect_my-father-was-always-saying-i-d-end-up-l_329214.jpg)
![“From the time of Dante [Alighieri], when you have the Ptolemaic universe, you had God on the outside like a hypersphere, and then in the center you have the Earth, all the seven heavens and layers, and then you have the Mount of Purgatory and Hell right in the center, and here's Satan flapping his…” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/df2/paul-laffoley-7077_earth_from-the-time-of-dante-alighieri-when-yo_360603.jpg)
