Doesn't it seem to you, asked Madame Bovary, that the mind moves more freely in the presence of that boundless expanse, that the sight of it elevates the soul and gives rise to thoughts of the infinit...
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.
At the bottom of her heart, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like shipwrecked sailors, she turned despairing eyes upon the solitude of her life, seeking afar off some white sail in th...
Abstraction can provide stumbling blocks for people of strange intelligence.
A man, at least, is free; he can explore each passion and every kingdom, conquer obstacles, feast upon the most exotic pleasures. But a woman is continually thwarted. Both inert and yielding, against...
La felicità) Un giorno o l’altro è possibile incontrarla [...] un giorno, all’improvviso, quando oramai non si sperava più. Allora si intravedono orizzonti, è come se una voce gridasse: ‘Eccola!’ E tu...
Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. People have always been like this.
One day, I shall explode like an artillery shell and all my bits will be found on the writing table.
When you reduce a woman to writing, she makes you think of a thousand other women
An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.
Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.
The better a work is, the more it attracts criticism it is like the fleas who rush to jump on white linens.
One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.
Život koji sam potiskivao u sebe stisnuo se u srce i stezao ga da ga zadavi.
Without moving, you walk through lands you imagine you can see, and your thoughts, weaving in and out of the story, delight in the details or follow the outlines of the adventures. You merge with the...
What’s improper about it? retorted the clerk. Everybody does it in Paris! It was an irresistible and conclusive argument.
To return to antiquity [in literature]: that has been done. To return to the Middle Ages: that too has been done. Remains the present day. But the ground is shaky: so where can you set the foundations...
This was how they wished they had been: each was creating an ideal into which he was now fitting his past life.
Then she fell back exhausted, for these transports of vague love wearied her more than great debauchery.
The world is going to become bloody stupid and from now on will be a very boring place. We’re lucky to be living now.