Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubertwas an influential French novelist who was perhaps the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary, for his Correspondence, and for his scrupulous devotion to his style and aesthetics. The celebrated short story writer Guy de Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth12 December 1821
CityRouen, France
CountryFrance
All one's inventions are true, you can be sure of that. Poetry is as exact a science as geometry.
Poetry is as exact a science as geometry
Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry.
Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.
There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it
Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry.
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.
The artist ought no more to appear in his work than God in nature.
The artist must be in his work like God in his Creation, invisible and all-powerful, so that he is felt everywhere but not seen.
Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.
Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.
. . . human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to move the stars.
Human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which we bang out tunes that make bears dance, when what we want is to move the stars to pity
I maintain that ideas are events. It is more difficult to make them interesting, I know, but if you fail the style is at fault.