Madame Bovary

by Gustave Flaubert

"This is where Normandy, Picardy and the Ile-de-France come together, a bastard region whose speech is as flat as its landscape is characterless. It is here that the worst Neufchatel cheese in the whole district are made..." pg. 67

"They were a lively bunch of men and women, and they really enjoyed themselves--they had pastry, champagne, trumpets, the whole works!" pg.253

"Emma carved, showering him with all sorts of endearments as she put the pieces on his plate; and she laughed loudly and wantonly when the champagne foamed over the brim of her thin glass and onto the rings of her fingers." pg. 260

"Iced champagne was served. Emma shivered from head to toe when she felt the cold wine in her mouth. She had never seen pomegranates or eaten pineapple. Even the granulated sugar seemed to her whiter and finer than any she had ever seen before." pg. 48

"After supper, at which ther were many Spanish wines and Rhine wines, soups made of shellfish and soups made of almond milk, Trafalgar puddings and all sorts of cold meats with jellies around them that quivered in the platters, the carriages, one after another, began to leave." pg. 45 (Translation by Davis).

"But even her image gave him a feeling of satiation, and he said to himself, "Ah, Madame Bovary is prettier, and much fresher! Virginie is starting to get fat, no doubt about it. She annoys me with her fits of gaiety. And what a mania she has for shrimps!" pg. 127

“Shouts of laughter came from the billiard room; in the small dining room three millers were calling for brandy; the wood fire was blazing, the embers were crackling, and on the long kitchen table, among the quarters of raw mutton, stood piles of plates which trembled as the spinach was chopped on a block." pg. 71

"But during these demonstrations the cider would often spurt into their faces; the priest would laugh heavily and unfailingly make this little jest: 'It's goodness strikes the eye immediately!'" pg. 213

"What wild rejoicing there was with Leon in their hotel room the following Thursday! She laughed, wept, sang, danced, sent for sherbets, and insisted on smoking cigarettes; she seemed giddy to him, but adorable and superb." pg. 27