Oh, if I had been loved at the age of seventeen, what an idiot I would be today. Happiness is like smallpox: if you catch it too soon, it can completely ruin your constitution.

Quote by Gustave Flaubert

Topics: Gustave Flaubert Quotes

One never tires of what is well written, style is life! It is the very...

One never tires of what is well written, style is life! It is the very...

The heart, like the stomach, wants a varied diet.

The heart, like the stomach, wants a varied diet.

Woman is a vulgar animal from whom man has created an excessively beautiful ideal.

Woman is a vulgar animal from whom man has created an excessively beautiful ideal.

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.

One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.

One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.

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...

When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts, the circle of...

When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts, the circle of...

The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity...

The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity...

Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough.

Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough.

I have come to have the firm conviction that vanity is the basis of everything,...

I have come to have the firm conviction that vanity is the basis of everything,...

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

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

Success is a result, not a goal

Success is a result, not a goal

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...

The deplorable mania of doubt exhausts me. I doubt about everything, even my doubts.

The deplorable mania of doubt exhausts me. I doubt about everything, even my doubts.

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

A memory is a beautiful thing, it's almost a desire that you miss.

A memory is a beautiful thing, it's almost a desire that you miss.

A superhuman will is needed in order to write, and I am only a man.

A superhuman will is needed in order to write, and I am only a man.

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

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

The cult of art gives pride; one never has too much of it.

The cult of art gives pride; one never has too much of it.

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

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