Madame Bovary

“In her longing she confused the pleasures of luxurious with the thrill of the center, elegant customs with refined emotions. Didn’t love, like Indian vegetation, require ready soil and particular temperatures? Sighs within the moonlight, lengthy embraces, tears flowing onto yielding palms, all of the fevers of the flesh and the languages of affection – these items have been inseparable from the balcony of an important fort through which life moved at a leisurely tempo, from a boudoir with silk curtains, a thick carpet, stuffed flower stands and a mattress mounted on a platform, from the flicker of valuable stones or the aiguillettes of liveried servants.” – Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary