Gustave Flaubert's most famous quotes
The top 3 according to 57 votes from people: One must not touch idols: the gilt comes off on your hands. · What an admirable invention of the Devil social relations are! · Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when we long to move the stars to pity.. (Updated Oct 19, 2021.)
"Stupidity consists in wanting to reach conclusions", human speech "like a cracked kettle" and "Read in order to live": Gustave Flaubert's most quoted lines, from Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education to his letters, with their source.
Automatically translated (original in Français). See the original
Top 13
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1
One must not touch idols: the gilt comes off on your hands.
Madame Bovary (1857), IIIe partie, chap. 6.
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2
What an admirable invention of the Devil social relations are!
Letter to Louise Colet, 22 July 1852.
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3
Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when we long to move the stars to pity.
Madame Bovary (1857), IIe partie, chap. 12.
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4
He knew the melancholy of steamships, cold awakenings in tents, the giddiness of landscapes and ruins, the bitterness of interrupted friendships.
Sentimental Education (1869).
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5
"Heroes don't smell nice!"
Sentimental Education (1869).
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6
Out of sheer terror, everyone became brave.
Salammbô (1862).
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7
Stupidity consists in wanting to reach conclusions.
Letter to Louis Bouilhet, 4 September 1850.
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8
Read in order to live.
Letter to Mlle Leroyer de Chantepie, June 1857.
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9
But are you sure you see? Are you even sure you are alive? Perhaps there is nothing!
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874).
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10
The awareness of being worth more than these men eased the weariness of looking at them.
Sentimental Education (1869).
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11
To be stupid, selfish and in good health: those are the three requirements for happiness.
Letter to Louise Colet, 13 August 1846.
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12
It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar.
Salammbô (opening line) (1862).
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13
His name was Loulou. His body was green, the tips of his wings pink, his forehead blue and his throat golden.
"A Simple Heart", Three Tales (1877).
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