"It is the fine excesses of life that make it worth living"
About this Quote
Richard Le Gallienne, a late Victorian aesthete steeped in the fin-de-siecle mood, celebrates the surplus of life rather than its strict economies. The phrase joins two ideas that are usually set apart: excess and refinement. Excess suggests going beyond the limits that prudence sets, while fine implies discrimination, elegance, a cultivated taste. Together they propose a standard of living that values the moments that overflow utility, the lavishness of feeling, art, beauty, generosity, and daring that cannot be reduced to use or profit.
A culture of restraint praises moderation as the foundation of virtue. Le Gallienne answers that moderation alone cannot sustain the heart. Bread keeps bodies alive; music, laughter, and love make that life luminous. The fine excesses are the extra measure that breaks the flat line of mere survival: the flourish in a poem, the unneeded but perfect detail in a painting, the time spent lingering with friends when work is done, the gift that exceeds obligation, the risk taken for adventure or for love. Such things are not waste; they are the very scenes where meaning gathers.
The aphorism also carries a sly ethical claim. By naming the excesses fine, Le Gallienne distinguishes them from gross indulgence. He is not urging gluttony, cruelty, or reckless consumption, but the cultivated overflow that elevates rather than degrades. Many human achievements arise from this creative overreach: science asks one question too many; art pushes beyond the accurate to the beautiful; kindness goes past what is strictly fair. To live only within necessity is to clip the wings of imagination.
Written in an age that both preached improvement and feared decadence, the line insists that life becomes worth living at the point where we exceed mere measure. Not everything must be justified; some things justify life by their very lavishness.
A culture of restraint praises moderation as the foundation of virtue. Le Gallienne answers that moderation alone cannot sustain the heart. Bread keeps bodies alive; music, laughter, and love make that life luminous. The fine excesses are the extra measure that breaks the flat line of mere survival: the flourish in a poem, the unneeded but perfect detail in a painting, the time spent lingering with friends when work is done, the gift that exceeds obligation, the risk taken for adventure or for love. Such things are not waste; they are the very scenes where meaning gathers.
The aphorism also carries a sly ethical claim. By naming the excesses fine, Le Gallienne distinguishes them from gross indulgence. He is not urging gluttony, cruelty, or reckless consumption, but the cultivated overflow that elevates rather than degrades. Many human achievements arise from this creative overreach: science asks one question too many; art pushes beyond the accurate to the beautiful; kindness goes past what is strictly fair. To live only within necessity is to clip the wings of imagination.
Written in an age that both preached improvement and feared decadence, the line insists that life becomes worth living at the point where we exceed mere measure. Not everything must be justified; some things justify life by their very lavishness.
Quote Details
| Topic | Meaning of Life |
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