Madame Quote by Antonia Quirke

I first read 'Madame Bovary' in my teens or early twenties.

— Lydia Davis

“Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared…

— Jane Austen

“She carried a bouquet of borage and dahlias in her hands. For courage and dignity?”

— Christina Boyd

“Emma was just like any other mistress; and the charm of novelty, falling down slowly like a dress, exposed only the eternal monotony of…

— Gustave Flaubert

“Lucien, women are wondrous, mysterious, and magical creatures, who should be treated not only with respect but with reverence, perhaps even awe. Now go…

— Christopher Moore

“Mary McCarthy, though, had it wrong when she wrote that “Madame Bovary is Don Quixote in skirts.” Emma’s suffering is Platonic: she searches, in…

— Mark Lilla

“She got in, as she had persuaded Jerott Blyth to bring her half across France, by force of logic, a kind of flat-chested innocence…

— Dorothy Dunnett

“I always read Jane Austen during wars. Her complete lack of interest in Napoleon's activities has a soothingly insulating effect.”

— Louise Andrews Kent

“This is the first time for the girl, a time of revelation. Mysteries unravel at this height, patterns emerge. She stands woman--tall, shoulder to…

— Edward Cunningham

“A true plague of a girl. And yet a queen in every sense of the word.”

— Renee Ahdieh

“You must remember, Madame Harris, elegance is in the details.”

— Lynn Sheene

“She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress. And in the hush that had…

— Joseph Conrad