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

Quote by Gustave Flaubert

Topics: Gustave Flaubert Quotes

One arrives at style only with atrocious effort, with fanatical and devoted stubbornness.

One arrives at style only with atrocious effort, with fanatical and devoted stubbornness.

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

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

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.

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...

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...

I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the...

I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the...

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 mustn't ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for...

One mustn't ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for...

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no...

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no...

Of all lies, art is the least untrue.

Of all lies, art is the least untrue.

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.

The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but...

The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but...

I hate that which we have decided to call realism, even though I have been...

I hate that which we have decided to call realism, even though I have been...

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.

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...

Madame Bovary is myself.

Madame Bovary is myself.

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...

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is...

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is...

To promote laughter without joining in it greatly heightens the effect..

To promote laughter without joining in it greatly heightens the effect..

It is a right and duty of the wise ones to purify the strong by...

It is a right and duty of the wise ones to purify the strong by...