“Life must be a constant education one must learn everything, from speaking to dying.”
Education
“One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.”
HopeAll Quotes by Gustave Flaubert
“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.”
God“Happiness is a monstrosity! Punished are those who seek it.”
Happiness“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.”
Nature“To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.”
Happiness“Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.”
Hope“One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.”
Hope“There is no truth. There is only perception.”
Truth“The future is the worst thing about the present.”
Future“Success is a consequence and must not be a goal.”
Success“Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry.”
Poetry“The true poet for me is a priest. As soon as he dons the cassock, he must leave his family.”
Family“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.”
Art“Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.”
Art“Stupidity is something unshakable nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant.”
Nature“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.”
Art“The better a work is, the more it attracts criticism it is like the fleas who rush to jump on white linens.”
Work“All one's inventions are true, you can be sure of that. Poetry is as exact a science as geometry.”
Poetry“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.”
Age“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.”
Music