Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

Quote by Gustave Flaubert

Topics: Gustave Flaubert Quotes

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

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

Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.

Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.

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...

It seems to me that I have always existed and that I possess memories that...

It seems to me that I have always existed and that I possess memories that...

Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living.

Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living.

The future is the worst thing about the present.

The future is the worst thing about the present.

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

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

What is the beautiful, if not the impossible.

What is the beautiful, if not the impossible.

Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as...

Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as...

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

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

Books are made not like children but like pyramids and they're just as useless! And...

Books are made not like children but like pyramids and they're just as useless! And...

Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.

Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.

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

Of all the icy blasts that blow on love, a request for money is the...

Of all the icy blasts that blow on love, a request for money is the...

Caught up in life, you see it badly. You suffer from it or enjoy it...

Caught up in life, you see it badly. You suffer from it or enjoy it...

What an elder sees sitting; the young can't see standing.

What an elder sees sitting; the young can't see standing.

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....

Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance...

Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance...

One mustn't always believe that feeling is everything. In the arts, it is nothing without...

One mustn't always believe that feeling is everything. In the arts, it is nothing without...

The only way to avoid being unhappy is to close yourself up in Art and...

The only way to avoid being unhappy is to close yourself up in Art and...