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Quote by Muriel Barbery

Work

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

This novel intertwines the lives of a reclusive museum curator and a young, troubled schoolgirl, revealing their shared appreciation for the beauty of art and the complexities of life. The narrative delves into themes of isolation, intellectual curiosity, and the search for meaning in a modern world. more

Author

Muriel Barbery
Muriel Barbery

Muriel Barbery, born on May 28, 1969, is a renowned French novelist. Her works are known for their unique perspective and profound thinking, which have won her a wide audience. more

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“Originality is dangerous. It challenges, questions, overturns assumptions, unsettles moral codes, disrespects sacred cows or other such entities. It can be shocking, or ugly, or, to use the catch-all term so beloved of the tabloid press, controversial. And if we believe in liberty, if we want the air we breathe to remain plentiful and breathable, this is the art whose right to exist we must not only defend but celebrate. Art is not entertainment. At its very best, it's a revolution”

“When we confront a work of art we listen for the artist's voice. The greater the artist, the stronger and more distinct is the voice we hear. Only Mozart sounds like Mozart, only Hemingway sounds like Hemingway. This is one of the chief satisfactions of the artistic experience: to hear a voice speaking as only that voice can speak. And when the voice is exceptionally strong, it can exalt its material and allow us to experience the rarest of joys: that of transcendence.”

“Above all, the function of art is catharsis, purification: emotions accumulated in us under the pressure of social restraints, and liable to sudden issue in unsocial and destructive action, are touched off and sluiced away in the harmless form of theatrical excitement ; so tragedy, "through pity and fear, effects the proper purgation of these emotions." Aristotle [...] in this theory of catharsis he has made a suggestion endlessly fertile in the understanding of the almost mystic power of art.”

“أي عمل تتوكل على الله فيه انسه تماماً، لأنك إن توكلت على الله فهذا يعني أنك وضعت ثقتك في إتمام هذا العمل بمن يملك الأمور كلّها، ومن السماوات والأرض من بعض مربوباته، ومن يجير ولا يجار عليه”