Writing is a dog’s life, but the only one worth living. - Gustave Flaubert

"Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live."

"The public wants work which flatters its illusions."

"Do not read as children do to enjoy themselves, or, as the ambitious do to educate themselves. No, read to live."

"The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments."

"I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within."