To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

—Gustave Flaubert

health happiness stupidity selfishness

About Gustave Flaubert

Portrait of Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert (UK: FLOH-bair, US: floh-BAIR; French: [ɡystav flobɛʁ]; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. He is known especially for his debut novel Madame Bovary (1857), his Correspondence, and his...

More quotations from Gustave Flaubert

Read in order to live.

—Gustave Flaubert

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.

—Gustave Flaubert

I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.

—Gustave Flaubert

desire aspiration flying wings

Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.

—Gustave Flaubert

Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.

—Gustave Flaubert

More quotations tagged with “selfishness”

I believe in love. I believe in hard times and love winning. I believe marriage is hard. I believe people make mistakes. I believe people can want two things at once. I believe people are selfish and generous at the same time. I believe very few people want to hurt others. I believe that you can be surprised by life. I believe in happy endings.

—Isabel Gillies in Happens Every Day

love mistakes hurt marriage generosity selfishness

I'm being very selfish with myself right now. Taking care of me, feeding my own soul.

—Debbie Macomber in A Girl's Guide to Moving On

self-care soul selfishness

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.

—Gretchen Rubin in The Happiness Project

happiness belief effort generosity feelings discipline energy unhappiness selfishness care selflessness lightheartedness

Self-love, self-respect, self-approval, and self-worth do not equal self-ish.

—Mandy Hale in The Single Woman

love self respect self-worth self-love approval self-respect selfishness

History

8 Dec 2014 Added