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Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert Quotes

Writer

Gustave Flaubert, born on December 12, 1821 and died on May 8, 1880, was a prominent French writer of the 19th century. Known for his exquisite literary skills and profound psychological portrayals, Flaubert is best remembered for his masterpiece 'Madame Bovary'.

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Famous Gustave Flaubert Quotes

“Reveal art; conceal the artist.”

Art Artist Revelations

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“What I would like to write is a book about nothing, a book without exterior attachments, which would be held together by the innerforce of its style, as the earth without support is held in the air--a book that would have almost no subject or at least in which the subject would be almost invisible.”

Thinking Writing Art Book Would Be Earth Together Artist Language Support Air Subjects Style Invisible Thoughtful Attachment Exterior

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“The finest works of art are those in which there is the least matter. The closer expression comes to thought, the more the word clings to the idea and disappears, the more beautiful the work of art.”

Thinking Art Ideas Matter Beautiful Artist Language Expression Disappear Thoughtful Works Of Art Finest

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“There are in me, in literary terms, two distinct characters: one who is taken with roaring, with lyricism, with soaring aloft, with all the sonorities of phrase and summits of thought; and the other who digs and scratches for truth all he can, who is as interested in the little facts as the big ones, who would like to make you feel materially the things he reproduces.”

Feels Littles Art Two Character Facts Bigs Artist Literature Term Taken Phrases Soar Scratches Summit Roaring Literary Terms

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“Each dream finds at last its form; there is a drink for every thirst, and love for every heart. And there is no better way to spend your life than in the unceasing preoccupation of an idea--of an ideal.”

Way Heart Art Ideas Dream Lasts Form Artist Drink Ideals And Love Thirst Idealism Better Ways Preoccupation

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“I had, as I told you, a great passion while still almost a child. When it was over, I divided myself in two, placing on one side the soul I kept for Art, and on the other, my body, which would have to fend for itself.”

Love Children Art Stills Two Soul Body Artist Passion Sides Divided Great Passion

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“Everything is there: the love of Art.”

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“The most important quality of art and its aim is illusion; emotion, which is often obtained by certain sacrifices of poetic detail, is something else entirely and of an inferior order.”

Art Important Artist Certain Order Emotion Quality Sacrifice Illusion Aim Details Poetic Inferiors

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“If you participate in life, you don’t see it clearly: you suffer from it too much or enjoy it too much. The artist, to my way of thinking, is a monstrosity, something outside nature. All the misfortunes Providence inflicts on him come from his stubborness in denying that maxim.”

Ifs Thinking Way Artist Suffering Enjoy Too Much My Way Misfortunes Providence Maxims Way Of Thinking Monstrosity

Book:The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1830-1857

Source: The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1830-1857

“A man is a critic when he cannot be an artist, in the same way that a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier.”

Men Way Art Artist Critics Soldier Informers

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“[The artist] is like a pump; he has inside him a great pipe that reaches down into the entrails of things, the deepest layers. He sucks up what was lying there below, dim and unnoticed, and brings it in great jets to the sunlight.”

Inspirational Lying Artist Layers Sunlight Pipe Jet Pumps Unnoticed Enviromental

Book:The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1830-1857

Source: The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1830-1857

“The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful; one must sense him everywhere but never see him.”

Artist Literature Powerful Creation Invisible

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“Caught up in life, you see it badly. You suffer from it or enjoy it too much. The artist, in my opinion, is a monstrosity, something outside of nature.”

Life Artist Suffering Enjoy Opinion Too Much Inspire Caught Caught Up Monstrosity

Author:Gustave Flaubert

About the Author

Born: December 12, 1821
Died: May 8, 1880
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 421

Related Topics

Literature Art Writing Men Heart Book Love Life Soul Ifs Beautiful Artist Passion World Dream Feels Long Thinking Giving Ideas

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People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

madame bovaryRelated source material

The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1830-1857Related source material

Bouvard and PécuchetRelated source material

Madame Bovary: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)Related source material

Sentimental EducationRelated source material

Early WritingsRelated source material

Madame Bovary: Patterns of Provincial LifeRelated source material

NovemberRelated source material

Delphi Complete Works of Gustave Flaubert (Illustrated)Related source material

Dictionary of Accepted IdeasRelated source material

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