“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
“The future is the worst thing about the present.”
FutureAll Quotes by Gustave Flaubert
“To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.”
Happiness“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“I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.”
Nature“The true poet for me is a priest. As soon as he dons the cassock, he must leave his family.”
Family“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.”
Art“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“A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies.”
Death“Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.”
Art“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.”
Future“Of all lies, art is the least untrue.”
Art“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“I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly.”
Work“Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.”
Poetry“The heart, like the stomach, wants a varied diet.”
Diet“All one's inventions are true, you can be sure of that. Poetry is as exact a science as geometry.”
Poetry“Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.”
History“One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.”
Hope“Life must be a constant education one must learn everything, from speaking to dying.”
Education“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
Work