Quotes by Gustave Flaubert

There is no truth. There is only perception.

One mustn't ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for happiness.

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent 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.

The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful one must sense him everywhere but never see him.

I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly.