694 Quotes by Gustave Flaubert

Zij haatte niemand meer; een wemelend halfduister daalde neer over haar brein, en van alle aardse klanken hoorde Emma alleen nog de gestadige klacht van dit arme hart, zacht en vaag, als de laatste klanken van een wegstervende symfonie.

(...) na zoveel onenigheid hadden ze elkaar ten slotte gevonden in dezelfde menselijke zwakheid; en zij verroerden zich al net zomin als het lijk naast hen, dat eveneens door de slaap scheen overmand

It was during the summer of 1845, in the garden, under the arbour, Pécuchet, with his feet up on a small seat, was reading aloud in his booming voice, tirelessly, only stopping to dip his fingers into his snuff-box. Bouvard was listening to him, pipe in mouth, legs apart, the top of his trousers undone.

She loved the sea for its storms alone, cared for vegetation only when it grew here and there among ruins. She had to extract a kind of personal advantage from things and she rejected as useless everything that promised no immediate gratification — for her temperament was more sentimental than artistic, and what she was looking for was emotions, not scenery.

Dar cum sa vorbesti despre un rau care nu poate fi descris,care isi schimba infatisarea ca norii, care se involbureaza ca vantul?

Desiderava al tempo stesso morire e vivere a Parigi.

لكم تمنت ان تفضي لأحد بهذه الخواطر جميعاً و لكن، كيف السبيل إلى الافصاح عن ذلك الصيق الذي يتعذر التعبير عنه و الذي تتبدل صوره كالسحاب ، و يعصف بنفسها كالرياح!

You ask me whether the Orient is up to what I imagined it to be. Yes, it is; and more than that, it extends far beyond the narrow idea I had of it. I have found, clearly delineated, everything that was hazy in my mind. Facts have taken the place of suppositions - so excellently so that it is often as though I were suddenly coming upon old forgotten dreams."Gustave Flaubert, Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour

She loved the sea only for its storms, and greenery only when it was scattered among ruins.