694 Quotes by Gustave Flaubert

Noble characters and pure affections and happy scenes are very comforting things. They're a refuge from life's disillusionments.

I am an obscure and patient pearl-fisherman who dives into the deepest waters and comes up with empty hands and a blue face. Some fatal attraction draws me down into the abysses of thought, down into those innermost recesses which never cease to fascinate the strong. I shall spend my life gazing at the ocean of art, where others voyage or fight; and from time to time I’ll entertain myself by diving for those green and yellow shells that nobody will want. So I shall keep them for myself and cover the walls of my hut with them.

I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.

Reveal art; conceal the artist.

Success is a consequence and must not be a goal. I've never sought it (though I desire it) and seek it less and less.

A man, at least, is free; he can explore every passion, every land, overcome obstacles, taste the most distant pleasures. But a woman is continually thwarted. Inert and pliant at the same time, she must struggle against both the softness of her flesh and subjection to the law. Her will, like the veil tied to her hat by a string, flutters with every breeze; there is always some desire luring her on, some convention holding her back.

Here is true immorality: ignorance and stupidity; the devil is nothing but this. His name is Legion.

But some day sooner or later our passion would have cooled - inevitably - it's the way with everything human.

We should not touch our idols: their gilding will remain on our hands.