---
title: "2 Empty hands Quotes By Gustave Flaubert"
description: "2 Empty hands quotes by Gustave Flaubert. Plus more from Gustave Flaubert and more Empty hands sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/gustave-flaubert-354_empty-hands_amongst-those-who-go-to-sea-there-are-th_1411511.jpg"
---

> [“Amongst those who go to sea there are the navigators who discover new worlds, adding continents to the earth and stars to the heavens: they are the masters, the great, the eternally splendid. Then there are those who spit terror…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/amongst-those-who-go-to-sea-there-are-the-navigators-who-discover-new/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/830/gustave-flaubert-354_empty-hands_amongst-those-who-go-to-sea-there-are-th_1411511.jpg)

> [I am an obscure and patient pearl-fisherman who dives into the deepest waters and comes up with empty hands and a blue face. Some fatal attraction draws me down into the abysses of thought, down into those innermost recesses which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/i-am-an-obscure-and-patient-pearl-fisherman-who-dives-into-the/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/gustave-flaubert-354_abyss_i-am-an-obscure-and-patient-pearl-fisher_1878006.jpg)

## More by Gustave Flaubert

> [As for the piano, the faster her fingers flew over it, the more he marveled. She struck the keys with aplomb and ran from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/as-for-the-piano-the-faster-her-fingers-flew-over-it-the-more-he/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [Caught up in life, you see it badly. You suffer from it or enjoy it too much. The artist, in my opinion, is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/caught-up-in-life-you-see-it-badly-you-suffer-from-it-or-enjoy-it-too/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [“When one does something, one must do it wholly and well. Those bastard existences where you sell suet all day and write poetry at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/when-one-does-something-one-must-do-it-wholly-and-well-those-bastard/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [Isn’t ‘not to be bored’ one of the principal goals of life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/isn-t-not-to-be-bored-one-of-the-principal-goals-of-life/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/love-is-a-springtime-plant-that-perfumes-everything-with-its-hope/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [“But her life was as cold as an attic facing north; and boredom, like a silent spider, was weaving its web in the shadows,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/but-her-life-was-as-cold-as-an-attic-facing-north-and-boredom-like-a/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [When you reduce a woman to writing, she makes you think of a thousand other women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/when-you-reduce-a-woman-to-writing-she-makes-you-think-of-a-thousand/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/travel-makes-one-modest-you-see-what-a-tiny-place-you-occupy-in-the/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [“We must not touch our idols; the gilt sticks to our fingers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/we-must-not-touch-our-idols-the-gilt-sticks-to-our-fingers/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [A superhuman will is needed in order to write, and I am only a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/a-superhuman-will-is-needed-in-order-to-write-and-i-am-only-a-man/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [The writer must wade into life as into the sea, but only up to the navel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/the-writer-must-wade-into-life-as-into-the-sea-but-only-up-to-the/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [COLD. Healthier than heat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/cold-healthier-than-heat/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [And indeed, what is better than to sit by one's fireside in the evening with a book, while the wind beats against the window…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/and-indeed-what-is-better-than-to-sit-by-one-s-fireside-in-the/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/one-s-existence-should-be-in-two-parts-one-should-live-like-a/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [Emma was no asleep, she was pretending to be asleep; and, while he was dozing off at her side, she lay awake, dreaming other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/emma-was-no-asleep-she-was-pretending-to-be-asleep-and-while-he-was/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

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