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She loved the sea for its storms alone, cared for vegetation only when it grew here and there among ruins. She had to extract a kind of personal advantage from things and she rejected as useless everything that promised no immediate gratification -- for her temperament was more sentimental than artistic, and what she was looking for was emotions, not scenery.

Gustave Flaubert#20

EmotionNaturePreferenceUtility

About this quote

What does it mean?
The subject prefers immediate emotional payoff over aesthetic appreciation, valuing things only for personal use.
In plain terms
She only likes things that give her direct emotional benefit.
What can you take from it?
Utility often drives preference over beauty.

Where it applies

  • choosing hobbies
  • valuing experiences
  • evaluating art

Putting it to work

  • assess personal motives
  • seek genuine interest

Questions to consider

  • What do you reject for lack of use?
  • Do you value things for feeling or function?

Another view

Dismissing things without immediate return can limit growth.

More from Gustave Flaubert

  1. Before her marriage she had thought that she had love within her grasp but since the happiness which she had expected this love to bring her hadn't come, she s…

    Permalink to quote #19
  2. The sentimental songs she sang in music class were all about little angels with golden wings, madonnas, lagoons, gondoliers -- mawkish compositions that allowe…

    Permalink to quote #21
  3. Seen from close, her eyes appeared larger than life, especially when she opened and shut her eyelids several times on awakening: black when looked at in the sh…

    Permalink to quote #18

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