Gustave Flaubert Quotes

Powerful Gustave Flaubert for Daily Growth

About Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), a renowned French writer, is celebrated as one of the greatest novelists in Western literature. Born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen, Normandy, he was the son of a bourgeois family. Flaubert's formative years were marked by his deep bond with his mother and their shared love for the arts. At eighteen, Flaubert entered the École de Droit in Caen but quickly left to pursue his literary aspirations. In 1840, he moved to Paris where he met notable authors like George Sand and Victor Hugo. However, it was his friendship with Maxime du Camp that led him on an extensive travel journey through Egypt and the Middle East from 1849-51. These experiences significantly influenced his writing, particularly in "Salammbô" (1862), set in ancient Carthage. Flaubert's magnum opus, "Madame Bovary" (1857), caused a scandal for its realistic portrayal of adultery and provincial life. The novel was initially rejected by publishers due to its controversial themes but eventually found success, solidifying Flaubert as an innovator in the literary world. Known for his meticulous attention to detail, linguistic virtuosity, and psychological insight, Flaubert's works are regarded as masterpieces of realism. His other notable works include "Un cœur simple" (1877), "Three Tales" (1877) and the posthumously published "Bouvard et Pécuchet" (1881). Despite his numerous romantic attachments, Flaubert remained unmarried. He died on May 8, 1880, in Croisset, France, leaving behind an indelible legacy as a literary titan who pushed the boundaries of narrative structure and portrayed human complexity with unparalleled precision.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work."

This quote by Gustave Flaubert suggests that maintaining a disciplined lifestyle, characterized by routine and order, allows an individual to channel their energy and focus more effectively into their creative pursuits. By living with structure and consistency, one can then approach their work or art with the freedom to be unconventional and innovative, as they are not distracted by disorganization or disorder in their personal life. The implication is that a balance between routine and originality is key to producing exceptional work.


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

This quote by Gustave Flaubert suggests that the process of writing serves as a means to uncover one's deeply held beliefs, thoughts, and values. In other words, through the act of putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, we are forced to confront our own ideas and convictions, ultimately revealing what we truly believe about the world around us. Writing, therefore, is not just a method of communication but also a tool for self-discovery and introspection.


"A book must be an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us."

This quote by Gustave Flaubert suggests that a book, like an ice axe, should have the power to penetrate and shatter the deep-frozen emotions or thoughts inside a person. In other words, literature is not merely for entertainment but serves as a potent tool to evoke profound feelings and stimulate intellectual growth in the reader. It breaks the barriers of apathy, ignorance, or indifference, helping us understand ourselves and the world better.


"Sentimentality is the stupidity of the emotional nature."

Gustave Flaubert's quote, "Sentimentality is the stupidity of the emotional nature," suggests that excessive or overly simplistic expressions of emotion lack intelligence and depth. Flaubert believed that genuine emotions should be complex, nuanced, and intellectually engaged, rather than falling into clichés and trivialities that we often associate with sentimentality. Instead, he advocated for a more sophisticated approach to understanding and expressing our feelings.


"Man can do as he will, but not will as he will."

This quote by Gustave Flaubert suggests that while individuals possess free will to make choices, they may not always have the power or ability to execute their desires effectively due to external constraints or internal limitations. It highlights the tension between our aspirations and the practical realities of achieving them.


To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

- Gustave Flaubert

Happiness, Stupid, Stupidity

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Beautiful, Woman, Ideal, Animal

I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly.

- Gustave Flaubert

Love, Belly, Which, Ascetic

Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.

- Gustave Flaubert

Children, Ambitious, Read, Amuse

Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant.

- Gustave Flaubert

Nature, Stupidity, Against, Resistant

Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.

- Gustave Flaubert

Move, Which, Tunes, Cracked

Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.

- Gustave Flaubert

Love, Which, Springtime, Ruins

There is no truth. There is only perception.

- Gustave Flaubert

Truth, Only, Perception

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Love, Sun, Trees, Oranges

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

- Gustave Flaubert

Work, Original, Violent, Orderly

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.

- Gustave Flaubert

Rhythms, Which, Tap, Kettle

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Charm, Which, Inexpressible, Attracts

The better a work is, the more it attracts criticism; it is like the fleas who rush to jump on white linens.

- Gustave Flaubert

White, Better, Like, Attracts

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Art, Artists, Cannot, Perfection

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Ignorance, Times, Causes, Slander

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Been, Which, Though, Priests

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Nothing, See, More, Enterprises

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

- Gustave Flaubert

Poetry, Precise, Thing, Geometry

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Poetry, Sure, Perfectly, Geometry

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Science, Inventions, Sure, Geometry

The true poet for me is a priest. As soon as he dons the cassock, he must leave his family.

- Gustave Flaubert

Soon, Priest, His, True Poet

There are neither good nor bad subjects. From the point of view of pure Art, you could almost establish it as an axiom that the subject is irrelevant, style itself being an absolute manner of seeing things.

- Gustave Flaubert

Bad, Irrelevant, Almost, Establish

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.

- Gustave Flaubert

Idiot, Constitution, Been, Ruin

The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments.

- Gustave Flaubert

Future, Feel, Rather, So-Called

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Stupidity, Dream, Bourgeois, Proletarian

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Style, Only, Devoted, Fanatical

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

- Gustave Flaubert

Beautiful, Memory, Desire, Beautiful Thing

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

- Gustave Flaubert

See, Standing, Sees, Sitting

Here is true immorality: ignorance and stupidity; the devil is nothing but this. His name is Legion.

- Gustave Flaubert

Stupidity, Here, Legion, Immorality

Style is as much under the words as in the words. It is as much the soul as it is the flesh of a work.

- Gustave Flaubert

Work, Soul, Words, Flesh

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