Quotes by Gustave Flaubert

Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry.

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.

Stupidity is something unshakable nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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