The most important quality of art and its aim is illusion; emotion, which is often obtained by certain sacrifices of poetic detail, is something else entirely and of an inferior order.
Gustave FlaubertThought is the greatest of pleasures โpleasure itself is only imaginationโhave you ever enjoyed anything more than your dreams?
Gustave FlaubertOn spinach: I dislike it, and am happy to dislike it because if I liked it I would eat it, and I cannot stand it.
Gustave FlaubertHere is true immorality: ignorance and stupidity; the devil is nothing but this. His name is Legion.
Gustave Flaubert