Let us not kid ourselves; let us remember that literature is of no use whatever, except in the very special case of somebody's wishing to become, of all things, a Professor of Literature.

Oh, if I had been loved at the age of seventeen, what an idiot I would be today. Happiness is like smallpox: if you catch it too soon, it can completely ruin your constitution.

But some day sooner or later our passion would have cooled - inevitably - it's the way with everything human.

To see one's name in print! Some people commit a crime for no other reason.

She was as sated with him as he was tired of her. Emma had rediscovered in adultery all the banality of marriage.

You'll always have to deal with bastards, being lied to, deceived, slandered and ridiculed, but that's to be expected and you must thank heaven when you meet the exception.

Madame Bovary is myself.