“Contact with the world, with which I have been steadily rubbing shoulders now for fourteen months, makes me feel more and more like returning to my shell. I hate the crowd, the herd. It seems to me always atrociously stupid or vile.”

French novelist and critic of the 19th century, Flaubert is best known for his meticulous craftsmanship and literary realism, exemplified by masterpieces like *Madame Bovary*. His relentless pursuit of perfection in prose and his sharp critiques of societal hypocrisy remain influential in modern writing.