I hate that which we have decided to call realism, even though I have been made one of its high priests.

Quote by Gustave Flaubert

Topics: Gustave Flaubert Quotes

I detest my fellow-beings and do not feel that I am their fellow at all

I detest my fellow-beings and do not feel that I am their fellow at all

She (Madame Bovary) had that indefinable beauty that comes from happiness, enthusiasm, success - a...

She (Madame Bovary) had that indefinable beauty that comes from happiness, enthusiasm, success - a...

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if...

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if...

But the disparaging of those we love always alienates us from them to some extent....

But the disparaging of those we love always alienates us from them to some extent....

The author, in his work, must be like God in the Universe, present everywhere and...

The author, in his work, must be like God in the Universe, present everywhere and...

Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears...

Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears...

Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it.

Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it.

Exuberance is better than taste.

Exuberance is better than taste.

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

Life must be a constant education; one must learn everything, from speaking to dying.

Life must be a constant education; one must learn everything, from speaking to dying.

A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies.

A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies.

Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the...

Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the...

Of all possible debauches, traveling is the greatest that I know; that's the one they...

Of all possible debauches, traveling is the greatest that I know; that's the one they...

Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of...

Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of...

I love good sense above all, perhaps because I have none.

I love good sense above all, perhaps because I have none.

Oh, if I had been loved at the age of seventeen, what an idiot I...

Oh, if I had been loved at the age of seventeen, what an idiot I...

I am a man-pen. I feel through the pen, because of the pen.

I am a man-pen. I feel through the pen, because of the pen.

There are neither good nor bad subjects. From the point of view of pure Art,...

There are neither good nor bad subjects. From the point of view of pure Art,...

Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.

Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.

All one's inventions are true, you can be sure of that. Poetry is as exact...

All one's inventions are true, you can be sure of that. Poetry is as exact...