Everything useful is ugly
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"Nothing is really beautiful but that which cannot be made use of; everything that is useful is ugly, for it is the expression of some need, and the needs of man are vile and disgusting, like his poor, weak nature.--The most useful part of a house is the privy."--Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) by Théophile Gautier |
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"Everything useful is ugly is a dictum by French writer Théophile Gautier, first recorded in Gautier's preface to the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin:
- "Nothing is really beautiful but that which cannot be made use of; everything that is useful is ugly, for it is the expression of some need, and the needs of man are vile and disgusting, like his poor, weak nature.--The most useful part of a house is the privy."
- "Il n'y a de vraiment beau que ce qui ne peut servir à rien ; tout ce qui est utile est laid, car c'est l'expression de quelque besoin, et ceux de l'homme sont ignobles et dégoûtants, comme sa pauvre et infirme nature. — L’endroit le plus utile d’une maison, ce sont les latrines"
- --preface to the 1835 edition of Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) by Théophile Gautier
But even before this preface, in another preface, this time to his collection of poetry Poésies Gautier had said: "En général, dès qu’une chose devient utile, elle cesse d’être belle" (in general, whenever something becomes useful, it ceases to be beautiful).
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