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Gustave Flaubert Quotes

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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

“Deep in her soul, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like a sailor in distress, she would gaze out over the solitude of her life with desperate eyes, seeking some white sail in the mists of the far-off horizon. She did not know what this chance event would be, what wind would drive it to her, what shore it would carry her to, whether it was a longboat or a three-decked vessel, loaded with anguish or filled with happiness up to the portholes. But each morning, when she awoke, she hoped it would arrive that day, and she would listen to every sound, spring to her feet, feel surprised that it had not come; then at sunset, always more sorrowful, she would wish the next day were already there.”

Soul Waiting Sad Depression Simile Translation Madame Bovary Lydia Davis

Book:madame bovary

Source: madame bovary

“Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually – motionless as the stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in my members, the moon in my heart – I dreamed of the essence of the great Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks escape from fire. Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make enter in to it mine own soul in which I have enclosed all my senses.”

Soul

Book:The Temptation of St. Antony

Source: The Temptation of St. Antony

“Si vous m'accordez que l'homme a une âme - je veux que les bêtes en aient, toutes les bêtes - à commencer par le pourceau pour finir à la fourmi, aux animaux microscopiques. Si l'homme est libre les animaux sont libres, ils seront comme lui récompensés ou punis, que d'âmes diverses, que d'enfers, que de paradis eût dit Voltaire - cette réflexion est humiliante - elle conduit au matérialisme et au nihilisme. (If you grant me that man has a soul, I like to think that animals have souls, too-all animals, from the pig to the ant, even the microscopic animals. If man is free, animals are free; like him they will be rewarded or punished. So many different souls, so many hells, so many heavens, Voltaire would have said. This reflection is humiliating. It leads to materialism or to nihilism.)”

Soul Religion Heaven Animal Hell Voltaire Enfer Ciel âMe Bête

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“The most important thing in the world is to hold your soul aloft.”

World Important Soul Important Things Karma Your Soul Fathers Day Don Juan Juan Most Important Things In Life Fathers Day Images Happy Fathers Day Images

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

“Mediocrity cherishes rules; as for me, I hate them; I feel for them and for every restriction, corporation, caste, hierarchy, level, herd, a loathing which fills my soul, and it is in this respect perhaps that I understand martyrdom.”

Feels Soul Hate Levels Respect I Hate My Soul Corporations Cherish Conformity Mediocrity Hierarchy Restriction Herds Loathing Martyrdom Castes

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“You can't find the soul with a scalpel.”

Soul Scalpels

Book:Bouvard and Pécuchet

Source: Bouvard and Pécuchet

“There are two infinities that confuse me: the one in my soul devours me; the one around me will crush me”

Two Soul My Soul Crush Infinity

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“Everyone, either from modesty or egotism, hides away the best and most delicate of his soul’s possessions; to gain the esteem of others, we must only ever show our ugliest sides; this is how we keep ourselves on the common level”

Soul Shows Sides Levels Common Identity Gains Possession Esteem Delicate Modesty Egotism

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“Doesn't it seem to you," asked Madame Bovary, "that the mind moves more freely in the presence of that boundless expanse, that the sight of it elevates the soul and gives rise to thoughts of the infinite and the ideal?”

Giving Mind Soul Seems Moving Sea Ocean Ideals Sight Infinite Boundless Expanse

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“How we keep these dead souls in our hearts. Each one of us carries within himself his necropolis.”

Heart Soul Carrie

Book:The Complete Works of Gustave Flaubert: Novels, Short Stories, Plays, Memoirs and Letters: Original Versions of the Novels and Stories in French, An Interactive Bilingual Edition with Literary Essays on Flaubert by Guy de Maupassant, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, D.H. Lawrence

Source: The Complete Works of Gustave Flaubert: Novels, Short Stories, Plays, Memoirs and Letters: Original Versions of the Novels and Stories in French, An Interactive Bilingual Edition with Literary Essays on Flaubert by Guy de Maupassant, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, D.H. Lawrence

“[T]he truth is that fullness of soul can sometimes overflow in utter vapidity of language, for none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows; and 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.”