Quote

Success is a consequence and must not be a goal. I've never sought it (though I desire it) and seek it less and less.

Gustave Flaubert

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Gustave Flaubert
Age: 58 †
Born: 1821
Born: December 12
Died: 1880
Died: May 8
Novelist
Writer
Flaubert
Must
Sought
Never
Consequence
Seek
Though
Goal
Less
Success
Desire

More quotes by Gustave Flaubert

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There are some men whose only mission among others is to act as intermediaries one crosses them like bridges and keeps going.
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There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it
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For some men, the stronger their desire, the more difficult it is for them to act.
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The heart, like the stomach, wants a varied diet.
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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.
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One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.
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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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We should not touch our idols: their gilding will remain on our hands.
Gustave Flaubert
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What a heavy oar the pen is, and what a strong current ideas are to row in!
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We swung between madness and suicide ... it was beautiful!
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I'm absolutely removed from the world at such times...The hours go by without my knowing it. Sitting there I'm wandering in countries I can see every detail of - I'm playing a role in the story I'm reading. I actually feel I'm the characters - I live and breath with them.
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Better to work for yourself alone. You do as you like and follow your own ideas, you admire yourself and please yourself: isn’t that the main thing? And then the public is so stupid. Besides, who reads? And what do they read? And what do they admire?
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Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry.
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One never tires of what is well written, style is life! It is the very blood of thought!
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Writing this book I am like a man playing the piano with lead balls attached to his knuckles.
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When you reduce a woman to writing, she makes you think of a thousand other women
Gustave Flaubert
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Talent is a long patience.
Gustave Flaubert
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Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.
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The true poet for me is a priest. As soon as he dons the cassock, he must leave his family.
Gustave Flaubert
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Everything is there: the love of Art.
Gustave Flaubert