20+ Joris-Karl Huysmans Quotes On Death, Religion And Friendship

Joris-Karl Huysmans was a French novelist who wrote in the naturalist style during the late 19th century. He is best known for his novel À rebours, which is considered to be a key work in the decadent movement. Huysmans' writing is known for its vivid descriptions of the physical world and its exploration of the psychological effects of modern life. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Joris-Karl Huysmans on love, death, religion.

Already, he was dreaming of a refined solitude, a comfortable desert, a motionless ark in which to seek refuge from the unending deluge of human stupidity. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

He realized at last that the arguments of pessimism were powerless to comfort him — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Only the chaste are truly obscene. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Far from seeking to justify, as does the Church, the necessity of torments and afflictions, he cried, in his outraged pity: 'If a God has made this world, I should not wish to be that God. The world's wretchedness would rend my heart. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Last comes the class of persons, of nervous organization and enfeebled vigour, whose sensual appetite craves highly seasoned dishes, men of a hectic, over-stimulated constitution. Their eyes almost invariably hanker after that most irritating and morbid of colours, with its artificial splendours and feverish acrid gleams,-orange. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

I wish to confound all these people, to create a work of art of a supernatural realism and of a spiritualist naturalism. I wish to prove... that nothing is explained in the mysteries which surround us. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Ah; but my courage fails me, and my heart is sick within me! —Lord, take pity on the Christian who doubts, on the skeptic who would fain believe, on the galley-slave of life who puts to sea alone, in the darkness of night, beneath a firmament illumined no longer by the consoling beacon-fires of the ancient hope. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

There's no doubt about it - gardeners are the only true artists these days. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Menacing lines of black tomorrows on the horizon. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

In the matter of animals I love only cats, but I love them unreasonably for their qualities and in spite of their numerous faults. I have only one, but I could not live without a cat. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

The only really indecent people are the chaste. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Art and prayer are the only decent ejaculations of the soul. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

The modern painter…is an excellent couturier — Joris-Karl Huysmans

How inferior the human machine is, compared to man-made machines. They can be decoked, unscrewed, oiled and parts replaced. Decidedly, nature is not a very wonderful thing. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

...he shrunk more and more from the realities of life and above all from the society of his day which he regarded with an ever growing horror,--a detestation which had reacted strongly on his literary and artistic tastes; he refused, as far as possible, to have anything to do with pictures and books whose subjects were in any way connected with modern existence. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

The loveliest tune imaginable becomes vulgar and insupportable as soon as the public begins to hum it and the hurdy-gurdies make it their own. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Really, when I think it over, literature has only one excuse for existing; it saves the person who makes it from the disgustingness of life. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Worshiping the Devil is no more insane than worshiping God...It is precisely at the moment when positivism is at its high-water mark that mysticism stirs into life and the follies of occultism begin. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Art is the only clean thing on earth, except holiness. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Immersed in solitude, he would dream or read far into the night. By protracted contemplation of the same thoughts, his mind grew sharp, his vague, undeveloped ideas took on form. — Joris-Karl Huysmans

Life Lessons by Joris-Karl Huysmans

1. Joris-Karl Huysmans' works emphasize the importance of individualism and the power of the imagination to create one's own reality.
2. He also explored the themes of decadence and the pursuit of beauty in a world of materialism and superficiality.
3. Through his writing, Huysmans encourages readers to think critically about the role of art in society and to question the status quo.