Who is better off? The one who writes to revel in the voluptuousness of the life that surrounds them? Or the one who writes to escape the tediousness of that which awaits them outside? Whose flame will last longer?

Roman Payne
About This Quote

In a quote that first appears in a poem, French poet Charles Baudelaire expresses the desire to be trapped in a life of writing. As a writer, Baudelaire would have been able to revel in the life that surrounded him, but as a reader, he would have been able to escape the tedium of his everyday life. The idea is that if you write about your experiences and feelings, they will last longer than those you were experiencing at the time. Essentially, writing will last longer than you.

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