“ the first quality for an observer is to possess good eyes. If they are blurred with passion, or personal interest, things escape them; a good heart makes a good mind! ”
Gustave Flaubert, Bouvard et Pécuchet (1881). copy citation
| Author | Gustave Flaubert |
|---|---|
| Source | Bouvard et Pécuchet |
| Topic | passion blur |
| Date | 1881 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46909/46909-h/46909-h.htm |
Context
“Then immediately laughing at our applause, he said: “Not bad, that! Poetry, isn’t it? I begin to comprehend art.”
A true artist, for him, never could be wicked, for an artist is before all an observer; the first quality for an observer is to possess good eyes. If they are blurred with passion, or personal interest, things escape them; a good heart makes a good mind!
His worship of the beautiful led him to say: “The moral is not only a part of the æsthetic, but its condition foundationally.”
Two kinds of men were especially displeasing to him and were ever a subject for his disgust:”
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