Quotes from book
Sentimental Education

Sentimental Education
Gustave Flaubert Original title L'Éducation sentimentale , Histoire d’un jeune homme (French)

Sentimental Education is a novel by Gustave Flaubert. Considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, it was praised by contemporaries such as George Sand and Émile Zola, but criticised by Henry James. The story focuses on the romantic life of a young man at the time of the French Revolution of 1848.


Gustave Flaubert photo

“Don't talk to me about your hideous reality! What does it mean — reality?”

Pt. 1, Ch. 4
Sentimental Education (1869)
Context: Don't talk to me about your hideous reality! What does it mean — reality? Some see things black, others blue — the multitude sees them brute-fashion. There is nothing less natural than Michael Angelo; there is nothing more powerful! The anxiety about eternal truth is a mark of contemporary baseness; and art will become, if things go on in that way, a sort of poor joke as much below religion as it is below poetry, and as much below politics as it is below business. You will never reach its end — yes, its end! — which is to cause within us an impersonal exaltation, with petty works, in spite of all your finished execution.

Gustave Flaubert photo
Gustave Flaubert photo
Gustave Flaubert photo

“He is so corrupt that he would willingly pay for the pleasure of selling himself.”

Pt. 3, Ch. 3
Sentimental Education (1869)

Gustave Flaubert photo

“Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.”

Rien n'est humiliant comme de voir les sots réussir dans les entreprises où l'on échoue.
Pt. 1, Ch. 5
Sentimental Education (1869)

Gustave Flaubert photo

“For some men, the stronger their desire, the more difficult it is for them to act.”

Pt. 2, Ch. 3
Sentimental Education (1869)
Context: For some men, the stronger their desire, the more difficult it is for them to act. They are hampered by mistrust of themselves, daunted by the fear of giving offence; besides, deep feelings of affection are like respectable women; they are afraid of being found out and they go through life with downcast eyes.

Gustave Flaubert photo

“Exuberance is better than taste”

Pt. 1, Ch. 4; the most famous portion of this statement is "Exuberance is better than taste…" [Mieux vaut l'exubérance que le goût.]
Sentimental Education (1869)
Context: Without ideality, there is no grandeur; without grandeur there is no beauty. Olympus is a mountain. The most effective monument will always be the Pyramids. Exuberance is better than taste; the desert is better than a streetpavement, and a savage is surely better than a hairdresser!

Gustave Flaubert photo

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