Gustave Flaubert, one of the greatest French novelists of the 19th century, is best known for his masterpiece Madame Bovary. Renowned for his precise style and dedication to perfection in writing, Gustave Flaubert shaped modern literature with themes of realism, love, and human struggle.
His powerful words continue to inspire readers and writers around the world. In this collection, we explore the most insightful Gustave Flaubert quotes and timeless lessons from his works, offering inspiration, wisdom, and a deeper look into the mind of a literary genius.
Related: Bertrand Russell Quotes to Challenge Your Mind
Table of Contents
Today Gustave Flaubert Quotes ideas
“Life must be a constant education.” — Gustave Flaubert
“There is no truth. There is only perception.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The future tortures us, and the past chains us. That is why the present escapes us.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Happiness is a monstrosity. Punished are those who seek it.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The more you measure your life, the less you live it.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Life is so short, and oblivion is so long.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure much.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To think is to suffer.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The greatest joy of life is to be convinced we are loved.” — Gustave Flaubert
“An infinity of passion can be contained in one minute.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Life is made tolerable by the delusion of grandeur.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The more one ages, the more one appreciates the art of keeping still.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Do not touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The only way to avoid being unhappy is to shut yourself up in Art and count it as the ultimate reality.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Live humbly so that you may love freely.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Nothing is more humiliating than to see oneself in another person.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Life is like an onion; you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope.” — Gustave Flaubert
Quotes By Gustave Flaubert
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe about love.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love is like mushrooms: you never know if they are the edible kind until it is too late.” — Gustave Flaubert
“An infinity of passion can be contained in a single kiss.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love is a thing full of anxious fears.” — Gustave Flaubert
“You can calculate the value of love by the number of times it makes you crazy.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love, like Art, makes fools of us all.” — Gustave Flaubert
“One can be very foolish in love—and it is often charming.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love is a desire for eternity in the moment.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Nothing is more humiliating than not being loved back.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The heart has its own eternal logic.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love is only the exchange of two fantasies and the contact of two epidermises.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The more one loves, the more one wishes to love still more.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A woman’s heart is an ocean of secrets.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love teaches us what we are.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love has no middle term: it either destroys or saves.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind.” — Gustave Flaubert
“We always desire what we lack; that is the essence of love.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Love, like art, demands sacrifice.” — Gustave Flaubert
“In love, what we give is what we truly have.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Famous Quotes
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Style should be as clear as a crystal, as penetrating as an arrow, and as precise as a mathematical formula.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance, while we long to move the stars to pity.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Read in order to live.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A writer should be in his work like God in creation, invisible and all-powerful.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Stupidity lies in wanting to draw conclusions.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The better a writer is, the more solitary he becomes.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The art of writing consists of making ordinary words express extraordinary things.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To write is to live twice.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A book must be an axe for the frozen sea inside us.” — Gustave Flaubert
“There is no truth; there is only perception—and literature is its mirror.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A true writer lives only to write.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Do not read as children do, for amusement, or like the ambitious, for instruction. No, read in order to live.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The only way to avoid being unhappy is to lock yourself in Art.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Writing is a dog’s life, but the only life worth living.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The artist must raise his mind to the level of his work.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A masterpiece is composed not of ideas, but of details.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without being broken against it.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Humanity is like an ocean; the drop is never lost.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Bourgeois Quotes
“Men are like dogs: they chase the same bone.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The heart is a workshop full of illusions.” — Gustave Flaubert
“People are like soap bubbles: they glitter, they are fragile, and they vanish.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The majority of men are like leaves—they live and wither without meaning.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Stupidity consists in wanting to reach conclusions.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Vanity is the strongest of passions.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Every man is a cage locked inside himself.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Man is a moral animal who invents excuses for himself.” — Gustave Flaubert
“People are nothing but a collection of habits.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Man’s greatest enemy is his own imagination.” — Gustave Flaubert
“What we call happiness is just an illusion between two miseries.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Most men die without ever having lived.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Vanity and stupidity are twins.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Mankind is a mob that applauds only success.” — Gustave Flaubert
“No human being can keep a secret; if their lips are silent, they speak with their fingertips.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Man is the only animal who blushes—or who needs to.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To have a clear conscience is to enjoy a continual feast.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The only way not to suffer is to be without passions.” — Gustave Flaubert
“There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Love Quotes
“The more one ages, the more one finds the need for solitude.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Happiness is like a dream: once you awaken, it vanishes.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Everything must be learned, from speaking to dying.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The greatest illusion is that life has meaning.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Happiness consists in wanting what you already have.” — Gustave Flaubert
“It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Truth is water in a sieve.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To know everything is to forgive everything.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A wise man never laughs without reason.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The test of wisdom is in patience.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Wisdom begins in wonder and ends in silence.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Contentment is wealth.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Patience is the most necessary of all virtues.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The true philosopher is always in search, never in possession.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The best way out is always through.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness — though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Public opinion is an invisible tyrant.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary Quotes
“Governments are machines that crush men in the name of liberty.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Society is a banquet of lies.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Politics is a realm where truth rarely survives.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The majority is always wrong.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Civilization is nothing but a thin varnish over barbarism.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The mob is always ready to applaud success and trample on failure.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Society is an edifice built on hypocrisy.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Every age has the face of its hypocrisy.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Politics is a field of mediocrity exalted to grandeur.” — Gustave Flaubert
“There is more imagination in one crime than in twenty laws.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The world belongs to fools and brutes.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Society forgives everything except genius.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Civilization advances only in appearance; in essence, men remain the same.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Public opinion is the worst of all opinions.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Governments pass, but stupidity remains.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A friend is a second self.” — Gustave Flaubert
“True friendship is like sound health — its value is seldom known until it is lost.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The most beautiful friendships are those based on admiration.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Friendship doubles joys and cuts griefs in half.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert A Simple Heart Quotes
“A man’s worth is measured by the friends he keeps.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Friendship, like love, demands patience and sacrifice.” — Gustave Flaubert
“In friendship, silence is often more eloquent than speech.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Betrayal by a friend wounds deeper than an enemy’s blow.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The truest friends are those who remain when fortune departs.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Friendship is the highest form of sympathy.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A friend is the mirror of your soul.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Friends are the poets of our daily life.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too?”” — Gustave Flaubert
“In friendship, as in love, we must not ask too much.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A faithful friend is a fortress.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To keep a friend, be discreet.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Every friendship is a silent promise.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The best friendships are those that survive distance.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A friend’s silence sometimes heals more than their words.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Woman is a mystery to herself and to man.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The more a woman resists, the more she fascinates.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Woman is like a flower: delicate, but with thorns.” — Gustave Flaubert
“One can be very foolish in the company of a woman.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Industrial Revolution Quotes
“Women inspire our greatest passions and our worst follies.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Woman is the eternal subject of literature.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A woman’s heart has depths no man has ever sounded.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Women deceive themselves before deceiving men.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Woman is a riddle whose answer changes every day.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The soul of a woman is poetry itself.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Woman is both the muse and the abyss.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Women are the only true aristocracy of nature.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A woman’s glance can undo years of resolve.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To understand a woman is to misunderstand her.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A woman is less interested in the truth than in the story of it.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A woman’s greatest strength is her weakness.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Women are the poetry of humanity.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Every woman is a novel of which the man is only the reader.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Women teach men the art of living.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Woman is nature’s masterpiece.” — Gustave Flaubert
“God is a hypothesis I do not need.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Religion is the poetry of the people.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Faith is the need of weak hearts.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Prayer is the poetry of the soul.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Quotes and Meanings
“Religion has slain more men than war.” — Gustave Flaubert
“God is a word on which we hang our ignorance.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The more man creates gods, the more he loses his humanity.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Religion is a collective dream.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The priesthood is the trade of exploiting fear.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To doubt is to think.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Heaven is only a literary invention.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Man invented God so as not to die alone.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Faith consoles, but reason liberates.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Religion is the opium of idleness.” — Gustave Flaubert
“God is a metaphor for our longing.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Religion begins where knowledge ends.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The holiest act is the search for truth.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Religion is humanity’s first novel.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Man is more religious when he is unhappy.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A writer must live in a glass house with shutters closed.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To write well is everything.” — Gustave Flaubert
“I have always tried to write the perfect page.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Style is to forget all styles.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Quotes on Literature
“Talent is long patience.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The best sentences are carved with a chisel.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Writing demands both solitude and suffering.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The art of writing is the art of rewriting.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The first draft is nothing; revision is everything.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Only by suffering does one write beautifully.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A writer must be ruthless with words.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Clarity is the courtesy of the writer.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A single word misplaced ruins a whole page.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Style is the soul made visible.” — Gustave Flaubert
“There are no synonyms; there are only the wrong words.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Art is precision or it is nothing.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A writer must weigh every syllable.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The perfect word is as rare as a diamond.” — Gustave Flaubert
“A writer’s work is a perpetual search for the exact expression.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Writing is the slow torture of perfection.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Time devours everything.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Habit is a second nature.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Silence is the most powerful of arguments.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Every passion borders on the chaotic.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Quotes on Love
“Memory is a form of vengeance.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Imagination is the only reality.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Dreams are the literature of sleep.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The only real prison is fear.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Beauty is a promise of happiness.” — Gustave Flaubert
“All generalizations are dangerous, even this one.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Truth is relative to the eye that sees.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Boredom is the root of all evil.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Nothing is more fatiguing than to be bored with oneself.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Death is the only truth.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Fate is nothing but the name we give to our mistakes.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Passion is temporary madness.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To exist is to change.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Solitude is the school of genius.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The greatest luxury is to be misunderstood.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Hope is the dream of the waking man.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Truth is like the sun — it blinds as much as it illuminates.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Nothing is more real than illusion.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Fortune is glass — the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken.” — Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert Quotes on Public and Private Life
“Boredom enters the soul like damp into a house.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The true journey is the one within.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Great things are achieved only through passion.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Ambition is a crime in solitude, but a virtue in society.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Genius is patience dressed in fire.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Destiny is the sum of our choices.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Death is the supreme awakening.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Every truth begins as blasphemy.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The only way to escape boredom is to work.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Hope is the opium of the soul.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Life without passion is a slow death.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To know is nothing; to imagine is everything.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Freedom is the daughter of solitude.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The future is nothing but the past returning in disguise.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Reality is a cage; imagination is its key.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Dreams have their own truth.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Silence speaks the language of eternity.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Every illusion is a truth for the heart.” — Gustave Flaubert
“There is beauty in despair if one knows how to see it.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Fame is a vapor; popularity, an accident; the only earthly certainty is oblivion.” — Gustave Flaubert
“The best way to know someone is through their silence.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Perfection is the enemy of completion.” — Gustave Flaubert
“All men are ordinary until passion makes them extraordinary.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Freedom is nothing but the choice of one’s chains.” — Gustave Flaubert
“To die is nothing; to live without purpose is everything.” — Gustave Flaubert
“Boredom is the conviction that you cannot change anything.” — Gustave Flaubert
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