Madame Bovary

"She was capable of any deception, yet incapable of any true understanding."

"The greatest tragedy is not suffering, but the loss of hope."

"Marriage is a sad comedy played out in a silent house."

"She read novels the way others drink wine—to escape reality."

"Love devours itself like a flame consuming its own fuel."

"The poor man dreams of bread; the rich man dreams of meaning."

"Nothing great is ever accomplished without passion and ruin."

"She would have liked to be born a man."

"The provincial mind sees no further than its own steeple."

"Art without life is merely decoration."

"Money is the root of all happiness, or so people think."

"She had loved him in her imagination; now reality was crushing that love."

"Behind every great man stands a woman rolling her eyes."

"What a miserable thing to be a woman! And yet we are nothing but slaves bound to the whims of men."

"The heart, like the stomach, requires rest sometimes."

"She was like a woman waking from a dream, finding herself in a strange bed."

"The soul dies before the body does."

"She exhausted herself chasing phantoms."

"Words are often substitutes for genuine feeling."

"He mistook weakness for gentleness."

"Longing is the only pleasure she truly knew."

"The convent and marriage are prisons of different kinds."

"Success belongs only to those with no scruples."

"She was beautiful precisely because she was unhappy."

"Illness is sometimes a refuge from life's demands."

"The heart demands what reason forbids."

"Pity is often mistaken for love."

"He could not see beyond his own narrow perspective."

"Boredom is the true plague of existence."

"She purchased dreams at the cost of her soul."