Gustave Flaubert

An infinity of passion can be contained in one minute, like a crowd in a small space.

Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it

I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within.

You don’t make art out of good intentions.

One can be the master of what one does, but never of what one feels.

Doubt … is an illness that comes from knowledge and leads to madness.

The public wants work which flatters its illusions.

The one way of tolerating existence is to lose oneself in literature as in a perpetual orgy.

Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.

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

It’s hard to communicate anything exactly and that’s why perfect relationships between people are difficult to find.