What a heavy oar the pen is, and what a strong current ideas are to row in.

Quel lourd aviron qu’une plume & combien l’idée quand il la faut creuser avec, est un dur courant

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Challenges of writing Writing

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

French

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Occupation

Novelist Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Louise Colet. 23 Oct. 1851.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. The Letters of Gustave Flaubert 1830-1857, translated and edited by Francis Steegmuller. Faber and Faber, 1981.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Gustave Flaubert about challenges of writing: “What a heavy oar the pen is, and what a strong current ideas are…”
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A quote by Gustave Flaubert about challenges of writing: “What a heavy oar the pen is, and what a strong current ideas are…”
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A quote by Gustave Flaubert about challenges of writing: “What a heavy oar the pen is, and what a strong current ideas are…”
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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

See many skies and seas.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote
Topic
Broadening one's horizons Travel

Author

Gustave Flaubert
Source
Letters of Gustave Flaubert
Medium
Letter
Statement Type
Advice
Language
French
Time
1857 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Mademoiselle Leroyer de Chantepie. c. 1840.

Another quote from the 1850s

Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart!

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

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Read The Scarlet Letter at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Pursuing women Men and women

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. 15.

Current Citation

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter, edited by Brian Harding. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 15.

Another quote about Writing

I asked him one time what type of writing brought the most money and the agent says, "Ransom notes."

Elmore Leonard

Get Shorty (novel)

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More information about this quote
Topic
Writing
Speaker
Harry Zimm

Author

Elmore Leonard
Source
Get Shorty (novel)
Medium
Novel
Statement Type
Joke
Language
English
Time
1990 1990s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Leonard, Elmore. Get Shorty. Delacorte Press, 1990, ch. 9.

Another quote originally in French

To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.

Pierre Corneille

Le Cid

Read Le Cid at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Winning Taking risks
Speaker
Don Gomes, Le Comte

Author

Pierre Corneille
Source
Le Cid
Medium
Play
Genre
Tragicomedy
Language
French
Time
1636 1630s 17th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Corneille, Pierre. Le Cid. Dec. 1636, Theatre du Marais, Paris, France, act 2, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Corneille, Pierre. "The Cid." The Cid, Cinna, The Theatrical Illusion, translated by John Cairncross. Penguin Classics, 1976.

Another quote of the following type Metaphor, analogy and simile

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Immanuel Kant

More information about this quote
Topic
Imperfection Human nature

Author

Immanuel Kant
Source
Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose
Medium
Essay
Genre
Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
German
Time
1784 1780s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Citation

Kant, Immanuel. "Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht [Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose]." Berlinische Monatsschrift, Nov. 1784.