Life is short, the art long

Posted by ESC on November 26, 2004

In Reply to: So is bartleby wropng posted by DH on November 26, 2004

: : : : : Hello:

: : : : : First question - "Life is short, art is long." Is this the usual way the Latin saying is rendered in English?

: : : : : Second question - What is the actual meaning?

: : : : : a) (Your) art outlives (your) life.

: : : : : b) Life is too short for you to master any sort of art.

: : : : : c) ?

: : : : : Thanks.

: : : : : Jose Carlos

: : : : The original "Ars longa, vita brevis" is usually rendered in English "art is long, life is short." Usually. It is sometimes seen as an exhortation to aspire to create (or at least revere) great art, which will outlive us all. Shakespeare ended one of his sonnets

: : : : So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
: : : : So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

: : : : conferring immortality on the subject of the sonnet. And it worked. Shakespeare is dust; the object of his affection is dust; the poem will live forever.

: : :
: : : I felt apprehensive about saying (above) that it was usually rendered with the art clause before the life clause, so I googled both versions to verify it. Yep. 7640 to 1940.

: : Variation:

: : ART IS LONG AND CRITICS ARE THE INSECTS OF A DAY - Poet Randall Jarrell quoted in a novel. From "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz (Bantam Books, New York, 2003). Page 112.

: Jose, thanks for the question; food for thought
: Here's bartleby's take:
:
: Good work takes a long time to accomplish. The earliest version of this famous saying that we know of is by the great Greek medical doctor Hippocrates. It was repeated by many artists and writers including Seneca, Geoffrey Chaucer, Goethe, Longfellow, and Browning.

: Note that the above def doesn't quite agree with any of the foregoing. Thus the expression may itself be subject to a variety of interpretations, all equally valid. I'll bet if you submit the question to WW you'll get 44 replies in 2000 words full of rancor and recrimination. Try it, if you have the patience--DH

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
"A Psalm of Life" , cf Hippocrates. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet, 1807-82.

And from the proverbs section:
Art is long and life is short. Late 14th century, from Hippocrates; see Chaucer, and Hippocrates.

That lyf so short,
the craft so long to learne,
Th' assay so hard, so sharp the conquerynge.
"The Parliament of Fowls" 1. Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400).

Life is short, the art long. Often quoted as "Ars longa, vita brevis," after Seneca's rendering in De Brevitate Vitae sect. 1. Hippocrates (c. 460-357 BC).

All of the above from "The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations," Oxford University Press, Fifth Edition, edited by Elizabeth Knowles, 2001.

• Ars longa vita brevis. Smokey Stover 26/November/04