694 Quotes by Gustave Flaubert

Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it

Financial demands, of all the rough winds that blow upon our love, (are) quite the coldest and the most biting.

You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.

On days when it was too hot, they did not leave their room. The dazzling brilliance from outside plastered bars of light between the slats of the blinds. Not a sound in the village. Down below, on the sidewalk, no one. This spreading silence increased the tranquility of things. In the distance, the caulkers’ hammers tamped the hulls, and a heavy breeze brought the smell of tar.

Judge the goodness of a book by the energy of the punches it has given you. I believe the greatest characteristic of genius, is, above all, force.

It’s hard to communicate anything exactly and that’s why perfect relationships between people are difficult to find.

Is it not time to cry that the blind shall see, the deaf hear, the lame walk? But that which fanaticism formerly promised to its elect, science now accomplishes for all men.

One can be the master of what one does, but never of what one feels.