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Quotes from
Madame Bovary
"The clouds were gathering in the west, in the direction of Rouen, swiftly rolling in black spiralswith enormous sunbeams emerging from them in back, like the golden arrows of a hangingtrophy, while the rest of the sky was empty and as white as porcelain. But a gust of wind bentthe poplars and suddenly rain was pattering on the green leaves. Then the sun came out again,chickens cackled, sparrows fluttered their wings in the wet bushes and little streams of water flowing from puddles in the gravel carried away the pink flowers of an acacia."p.104"Evening shadows were falling; the sun’s rays, streaming horizontally through the branches,dazzled her eyes. Here and there, all around her, among the leaves and on the ground, wereshimmering patches of light, as though hummingbirds had scattered their feathers in flight.Silence lay over everything; the trees seemed to be giving off something soft and sweet; she felther heart beating again, and the blood flowing through her flesh like a river of milk. Then sheheard a long, lingering, indistinct cry coming from one of the hills far beyond the forest; shelistened to it in silence as it mingled like a strain of music with the last vibrations of her overwrought nerves."p.139"But the depth of your feelings, which is both your charm and your torment, preventedyou, adorable woman that you are, from realizing the falsity of our future position. Atfirst I gave it no thought either: I was resting in the shadow of that ideal happiness as inthe shade of the poisonous machineel tree, without foreseeing the consequences."-Rodolphe’s Goodbye Letter, p.175"He had one of those magnificently pale complexions which impart the majesty of amarble statue to the ardent races of the south. His robust chest was tightly encased in a brown doublet, a small chased dagger hung loosely over his left thigh and he rolled hiseyes languorously, flashing his white teeth." P.193 (the opera)"His fury had driven him to quote in Latin, and he would have quoted in Chinese andGreenlandic if he had known those languages, for he was undergoing one of those crisesin which the entire soul indistinctly shows what it contains, just as, in a storm, the seafleetingly opens to reveal everything from the seaweed on its shore to the sand of itsgreatest depths." P.214"It was the time of day when one hears the sound of caulker’s mallets striking againsthulls in the shipyards. Tar smoke floated up through the trees, and on the surface of theriver there were large oily patches undulating irregularly in the crimson glow of the sun,like plaques of Florentine bronze." P.221"All right, that’s good," she would say to him. "You can leave now."
 
For he would be standing there with his arms hanging loosely and his eyes wide open, asthough he had suddenly become enmeshed in the countless strands of an intricatereverie." P.231 (Emma to Justin)"His failure to keep his word about their rendezvous seemed to her an outrage, and shesought other reasons for breaking off their affair: he was incapable of heroism, weak,common-place, spineless as a woman, and stringy, too, and cowardly.Then she grew calmer and decided she was probably being unjust to him. But disparagingthose we love always detaches us from them to some extend. It is better not to touch our idols: the gilt comes off on our hands." P.243"No matter: she was not happy, and never had been. Why was life so unsatisfying? Whydid everything she leaned on instantly crumble into dust? . . . But if somewhere thereexisted a strong, handsome man with a valorous, passionate and refined nature, a poet’ssoul in the form of an angel, a lyre with strings of bronze intoning elegiac nuptial songsto the heavens, why was it not possible that she might meet him some day? No, it wouldnever happen! Besides, nothing was worth seeking-everything was a lie! Each smile hid ayawn of boredom, each joy a curse, each pleasure its own disgust; and the sweetest kissesonly left on one’s lips a hopeless longing for a higher ecstasy." P.245 (She is unhappywith her love affairs, and wants more.)"Her pride swelled: never before had she felt such esteem for herself or such contempt for others. And she was exalted by a feeling of belligerency. She wished she could attack allmen, spit in their faces, grind them into the dust. She walked swiftly along the road, pale,trembling and furious, scanning the empty horizon with tear-filled eyes and almostdelighting in the hatred that was choking her." P.263 
Quotes that you shouldn’t read until after you’ve read the book:
"She repeated to herself, "I have a lover! I have a lover!" and the thought gave her adelicious thrill, as though she were beginning a second puberty. At last she was going to possess the joys of love, that fever of happiness she had despaired of ever knowing. Shewas entering a marvelous realm in which everything would be passion, ecstasy andrapture; she was surrounded by vast expanses of bluish space, summits of intense feelingsparkled before her eyes, and everyday life appeared far below in the shadows betweenthese peaks."p.140"He, this man of great experience, could not distinguish dissimilarities of feeling beneathfamiliarities of expression. Because lascivious or venal lips had murmured the samewords to him, he now had little belief in their sincerity when he heard them from Emma;they should be taken with a grain of salt, he thought, because the most exaggeratedspeeches usually hid the weakest feelings -- as though the fullness of the soul did notsometimes overflow into the emptiest phrases, since no one can ever express the exact
 
measure of his needs, his conceptions or his sorrows, and human speech is like a cracked pot on which we beat out rhythms for bears to dance to when we are striving to makemusic that will wring tears from the stars."p.165"Emma felt something strong pass over her, ridding her of all pain, all perception, allfeeling. Her unburdened body stopped thinking, another life was beginning; it seemed toher that her spirit, rising up to God, was about to be annihilated in this love, like burningincense dissolving in smoke. The sheets of the bed were sprinkled with holy water; the priest took the white Eucharistic host from the sacred place; and she was overcome withcelestial bliss when she advanced her lips to receive the body of the savior. The curtainsof her alcove swelled out gently around her like clouds, and the rays of light given off bythe two wax tapers burning on the dresser seemed to be dazzling aureoles. She let her head fall back, thinking she heard the music of angelic harps coming to her through boundless space; and on a golden throne in an azure sky, amid saints holding green palm branches, God the Father appeared in all His majesty, motioning angels with wings of flame to descend to earth and bring her back in their arms." P.184 (near-death sicknessscene)"The priest stood up and took the crucifix; she stretched forth her neck as though shewere thirsting, pressed her lips to the body of the God-Man and imprinted on it, with allher fading strength, the most ardent kiss of love she had ever given. Then he recited the
Miseratur 
and the
 Indulgetaim
, dipped his right thumb in the oil and began theannointments: first her eyes, which had so fiercely coveted all earthly luxury; then her nostrils, so avid for warm breezes and amorous scents; then her lips, which had opened tospeak lies, cry out in pride and moan in lust; then her hands, which had taken such pleasure in sensuous contacts; and finally the soles of her feet, once so swift in hurryingto gratify her desires, and now never to walk again." P.280 (final Sacraments)"The stones striking the wooden coffin made that awesome sound which seems to us thereverberation of eternity." P.293"On the grave among the fir trees, a boy was kneeling in the darkness with tears in hiseyes, his chest racked by sobs, his heart oppressed by an immense grief as tender as themoon and as unfathomable as the night" p.294 (Justin) 
Quotes from the novelist and his art:
"I notice that I hardly ever laugh any more and that I am no longer sad. I am ripe. Youtalk about my serenity, dear friend, and you envy me for it." September, 1845 (he was 24)"I think I have discovered a truth, an important truth, which is that happiness for peoplelike us lies in the idea, and nowhere else. Discover your own true nature, and be inharmony with it." September, 1845 (he was 24)
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