art is long, life is short

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Calque of Latin ars longa, vīta brevis

Proverb

art is long, life is short

  1. Art is more enduring than life.
    • August 24, 2017, Passport Magazine, Hong Kong:
      In the side of a storage structure, I note a surely-not-officially sanctioned graffiti slogan, "Art is Long, Life is Short".
    • 2002, Edmund White, Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS:
      Remembrance of Things Past Marc Lida's Proust Watercolors Jonathan Weinberg "Art is long, life is short," or so we are told.
    • 2011, Benjamin Franklin, The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Written by Himself:
      Alas! art is long and life is short! My friends would comfort me with the idea of a name, they say I shall leave behind me; and they tell me I have lived long enough to nature and to glory .

Translations

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