Gustave Flaubert

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

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

“I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.”

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

“Of all lies, art is the least untrue.”

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

“You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.”

“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.”

“The only way to avoid being unhappy is to close yourself up in Art and to count for nothing all the rest.”

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

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

“Life must be a constant education one must learn everything, from speaking to dying.”

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

“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.”

“The future is the worst thing about the present.”

“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.”

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

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

“Happiness is a monstrosity! Punished are those who seek it.”

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

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

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

“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.”

“I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.”