"Nothing is old, nothing is new, save the light of grace underneath which beats a human heart. The way of feeling, of understanding, of loving; the way of seeing the country, the faces that your father saw, that your mother knew. The rest is chimerical"
About this Quote
The subtext is generational and almost tactile: “the faces that your father saw, that your mother knew.” Rouault insists that perception itself is inherited, not as bloodline sentimentality but as a shared human repertoire. The “country” you see is never just geography; it’s memory, class, devotion, and suffering layered like varnish. As an artist associated with Expressionism and deeply marked by Catholic thought, Rouault is defending a kind of ethical realism: the real subject is not the new style but the old ache.
Calling “the rest” chimerical is the knife twist. He’s demoting progress, trend, and ego to fantasy creatures - seductive, elaborate, unreal. The intent isn’t to deny change, but to puncture our confidence that change equals meaning. What endures, Rouault argues, is the inner weather: how we love, how we understand, how we fail, how we’re redeemed.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nostalgia |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rouault, Georges. (2026, January 17). Nothing is old, nothing is new, save the light of grace underneath which beats a human heart. The way of feeling, of understanding, of loving; the way of seeing the country, the faces that your father saw, that your mother knew. The rest is chimerical. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/nothing-is-old-nothing-is-new-save-the-light-of-52957/
Chicago Style
Rouault, Georges. "Nothing is old, nothing is new, save the light of grace underneath which beats a human heart. The way of feeling, of understanding, of loving; the way of seeing the country, the faces that your father saw, that your mother knew. The rest is chimerical." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/nothing-is-old-nothing-is-new-save-the-light-of-52957/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Nothing is old, nothing is new, save the light of grace underneath which beats a human heart. The way of feeling, of understanding, of loving; the way of seeing the country, the faces that your father saw, that your mother knew. The rest is chimerical." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/nothing-is-old-nothing-is-new-save-the-light-of-52957/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
