694 Quotes by Gustave Flaubert

Contradiction is what keeps sanity in place.

Do you not know that there are souls constantly tormented?

Their separation was becoming intolerable. “I would rather die!” said Emma. She was writhing in his arms, weeping. “Adieu! adieu! When shall I see you again?

She no longer existed.

My life which I dream will be so beautiful, so poetic, so vast, so filled with love will turn out to be like everybody else’s – monotonous, sensible, stupid.

On the grave among the pine trees, a boy knelt weeping, his chest, racked by sobs, heaving in the darkness, oppressed by an immense grief gentler than the moon and more unfathomable than the night.

Thought is the greatest of pleasures – pleasure itself is only imagination – have you ever enjoyed anything more than your dreams?

Remembering the ball became for Emma a daily occupation. Every time Wednesday came round, she told herself when she woke up: ‘Ah! One week ago... two weeks ago... three weeks ago, I was there!’ And, little by little, in her memory, the faces all blurred together; she forgot the tunes of the quadrilles; no longer could she so clearly picture the liveries and the rooms; some details disappeared, but the yearning remained.

One mustn’t look at the abyss, because there is at the bottom an inexpressible charm which attracts us.