Quotes from Gustave Flaubert

the clang of the band, letting loose, rang out like a brass kettle rolling downstairs

There's a fundamental stupidity in mankind which is as eternal as life itself.

Evlenmeden önce gönlünde aÅŸk uyand???n? sanm??t?; fakat bu aÅŸk?n neticesi olmas? laz?m gelen saadetten bir eser yoktu. Ä°çinden: Yan?lm?? olaca??m diyordu. Emma, bahtiyarl?k, ihtiras, kendinden geçme gibi sözlerin, kitaplarda okuyup pek güzel bulduÄŸu bu kelimelerin hayatta acaba neyin, hangi halin ad? olduÄŸunu düÅŸünüp duruyordu.

So he gave up his flute, exalted sentiments, and poetry; for every bourgeois in the flush of his youth, were it but for a day, a moment, has believed himself capable of immense passions, of lofty enterprises. The most mediocre libertine has dreamed of sultanas; every notary bears within him the debris of a poet.

And he was beginning to feel that discouragement which is engendered by a life of repetition, when no interest guides nor expectation sustains it.

Human life is a sad show, undoubtedly; ugly, heavy and complex. Art has no other end, for people of feeling than to conjure away the burden and bitterness.

First he anointed her eyes, once so covetous of all earthly luxuries; then her nostrils, so gluttonous of caressing breezes and amorous scents; then her mouth, so prompt to lie, so defiant in pride, so loud in lust; then her hands that had thrilled to voluptuous contacts; and finally the soles of her feet, once so swift when she had hastened to slake her desires, and now never to walk again.

Coming delights, like tropical beaches, send out their native enchantment over the vast spaces that precede them - a perfumed breeze that lulls and drugs you out of all anxiety as to what may yet await you below the horizon.

What happiness there had been at that time, what freedom, what hope! What an abundance of illusions! Nothing was left of them now. She had got rid of them all in her soul's life, in all her successive conditions of life, maidenhood, her marriage, and her love—thus constantly losing them all her life through, like a traveller who leaves something of his wealth at every inn along his road.

Il n'avait pas un doute sur l'éventualité prochaine de cette conception, et tout ce qu'il jugeait lui être hostile, Sénécal s'acharnait dessus, avec des raisonnements de géomètre et une bonne foi d'inquisiteur

Earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is limitless.

No se piensa en nada; las horas pasan. Uno se pasea inmovil por paises que cree ver, y su pensamiento, enlazandose a la ficcion, se recrea en los detalles o sigue el hilo de las aventuras. Se identifica con los personajes; parece que somos nosotros mismos los que participamos bajo sus pieles.

El autor debe estar en su libro como Dios en su universo, presente en todas partes, pero siempre invisible.

Não devemos nos acostumar com os prazeres impraticáveis, quando ao nosso redor nós temos mil exigências...

The more flowery a person's speech … the more suspect the feelings, or lack of feelings, it concealed.

Toda la amargura de la existencia le parecía servida en su plato, y, con el humo del cocido, subían desde el fondo de su alma algo así como otras bocanadas del hastío

Qué cosa mejor, en efecto, que estar en casa por la noche con un libro junto al fuego, mientras el viento bate los vidrios y la lámpara se consume!

Y ya sentía en su corazón esa docilidad cobarde que es, para muchas mujeres, a la vez el castigo y el precio del adulterio.

In spite of her giddy airs (the phrase used by the bourgeois wives of Yonville), Emma still had a joyless look, and, habitually, at the corners of her mouth, she had that tightness that crumples the faces of old maids and bankrupts.

J'ai rêvé la gloire quand j'étais tout enfant, et maintenant je n'ai même plus l'orgueil de la médiocrité.

Ten cuidado con tus sueños: son la sirena de las almas. Ella canta. Nos llama. La seguimos y jamás retornamos.

Avant qu'elle se mariât, elle avait cru avoir de l'amour ; mais le bonheur qui aurait dû résulter de cet amour n'étant pas venu, il fallait qu'elle se fût trompée, songeait-elle. Et Emma cherchait à savoir ce que l'on entendait au juste dans la vie par les mots de félicité, de passion et d'ivresse, qui lui avaient paru si beaux dans les livres.

Dar cum sa vorbesti despre un rau care nu poate fi descris,care isi schimba infatisarea ca norii, care se involbureaza ca vantul?

The tenderness of the old days came back to their hearts, full and silent as the flowing river, with the softness of the perfume of the syringas, and threw across their memories shadows more immense and more sombre than those of the still willows that lengthened out over the grass.