Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

La parole humaine est comme un chaudron fele ou nous battons des melodies a faire danser les ours, quand on vondrait attendrir les etoiles.

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary

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More information about this quote

Topic

Limits of language Language

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Madame Bovary

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1856 1850s 19th century

Occupation

Novelist Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary: Moeurs de Province [Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners]. Revue de Paris, 1 Oct. 1856 - 15 Dec. 1856. Serial.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary, edited and translated by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classics, 2011, pt. 2, ch. 12.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Gustave Flaubert about limits of language: “Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms…”
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A quote by Gustave Flaubert about limits of language: “Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms…”
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A quote by Gustave Flaubert about limits of language: “Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Gustave Flaubert

We shouldn't maltreat our idols: the gilt comes off on our hands.

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary

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Read Madame Bovary at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Idols

Author

Gustave Flaubert
Source
Madame Bovary
Medium
Novel
Language
French
Time
1857 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary: Moeurs de Province [Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners]. Revue de Paris, 1 Oct. 1856 - 15 Dec. 1856. Serial.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary, edited and translated by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classics, 2011, pt. 3, ch. 6.

Another quote from the 1850s

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

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More information about this quote
Topic
Public vs. private person False appearances

Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Source
The Scarlet Letter
Medium
Novel
Language
English
Time
1850 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter: A Romance. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1850, ch. 20.

Current Citation

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter, edited by Brian Harding. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 20.

Another quote originally in French

And with the guts of the last priest
Let's wring the neck of the last king.

Denis Diderot

More information about this quote
Topic
Anti-clericalism Anti-monarchism Revolution

Author

Denis Diderot
Source
Les Eleutheromanes
Medium
Poem
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
French
Time
1772 1770s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Diderot, Denis. "Les Eleutheromanes [The Eleutherans]." Correspondance littéraire, 1 Mar. 1772.