Gustave Flaubert

You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#self-expression #beauty

The public wants work which flatters its illusions. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#artists #creativity #flattery #public #readers

You need a high degree of corruption or a very big heart to love absolutely everything ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#critics #love #love

Of all the icy blasts that blow on love, a request for money is the most chilling. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#greed #love #money #love

But, in her life, nothing was going to happen. Such was the will of God! The future was a dark corridor, and at the far end the door was bolted. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#future #life #life

He had carefully avoided her out of the natural cowardice that characterizes the stronger sex. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#french #love #men #women #love

The denigration of those we love always detaches us from them in some degree. Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#idolatry #idols #love-disappointment #love

I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#harmony #language #listening #nature #waves

By trying to understand everything, everything makes me dream ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#everything #dreams

What wretched poverty of language! To compare stars to diamonds! ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#poetry #stars #poverty