Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.Gustave Flaubert
Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.Gustave Flaubert
Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.Gustave Flaubert
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.Gustave Flaubert
Life must be a constant education; one must learn everything, from speaking to dying.Gustave Flaubert
Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.Gustave Flaubert
One mustn't ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for happiness.Gustave Flaubert
Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant.Gustave Flaubert
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.Gustave Flaubert
The better a work is, the more it attracts criticism; it is like the fleas who rush to jump on white linens.Gustave Flaubert
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.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