Quote

Judge the goodness of a book by the energy of the punches it has given you. I believe the greatest characteristic of genius, is, above all, force.

Gustave Flaubert

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Gustave Flaubert
Age: 58 †
Born: 1821
Born: December 12
Died: 1880
Died: May 8
Novelist
Writer
Flaubert
Given
Judge
Book
Goodness
Believe
Judging
Genius
Greatest
Literature
Punches
Force
Characteristic
Energy
Characteristics

More quotes by Gustave Flaubert

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One mustn't ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for happiness.
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Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it.
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What baffled him was that there should be all this fuss about something so simple as love.
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Iced champagne was served, and the feel of the cold wine in her mouth gave Emma a shiver that ran over her from head to toe.
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In my view, the novelist has no right to express his opinions on the things of this world. In creating, he must imitate God: do his job and then shut up.
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I hate that which we have decided to call realism, even though I have been made one of its high priests.
Gustave Flaubert
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COLD. Healthier than heat.
Gustave Flaubert
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The writer must wade into life as into the sea, but only up to the navel.
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I invite all brats to throw their cookies at the baker's head if they're not sweet, winos to chuck their wine if it's bad, the dying to shuck their souls when they croak, and men to throw their existence in God's face when it's bitter
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Prose is like hair it shines with combing.
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When you reduce a woman to writing, she makes you think of a thousand other women
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The one way of tolerating existence is to lose oneself in literature as in a perpetual orgy.
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After the pain of this disappointment her heart once more stood empty, and the succession of identical days began again.
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One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.
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The great natures which are good, are above everything generous and don't begrudge the giving of themselves.
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What seems to me the highest and the most difficult achievement of Art is not to make us laugh or cry, or to rouse our lust or our anger, but to do as nature does-that is, fill us with wonderment.
Gustave Flaubert
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Always 'duty.' I am sick of the word. They are a lot of old blockheads in flannel vests and of old women with foot-warmers and rosaries who constantly drone into our ears 'Duty, duty!' Ah! by Jove! one's duty is to feel what is great, cherish the beautiful, and not accept all the conventions of society with the ignominy that it imposes upon us.
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It’s hard to communicate anything exactly and that’s why perfect relationships between people are difficult to find.
Gustave Flaubert
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I had, as I told you, a great passion while still almost a child. When it was over, I divided myself in two, placing on one side the soul I kept for Art, and on the other, my body, which would have to fend for itself.
Gustave Flaubert
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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