"Success is a consequence and must not be a goal"
About this Quote
Gustave Flaubert, the obsessive craftsman of Madame Bovary, argued that success should arrive as an aftereffect of uncompromising work rather than as the driving aim. He spent years polishing sentences to capture le mot juste, showing a devotion to form, precision, and truth that could not be reconciled with chasing applause. Make success the goal and the work begins to bend toward trends, calculation, and flattery; make integrity the goal and the work has a chance to be alive.
The line speaks from a 19th-century literary world already governed by the market, the feuilleton, and the cult of celebrity, all of which Flaubert distrusted. He watched bourgeois values narrow art into careerism and utility, and he insisted on impersonal art that refused both preaching and pandering. Ironically, scandal and acclaim found him anyway after the trial over Madame Bovary. That history sharpens the point: recognition can arrive, but if it becomes the compass, it will mislead.
The principle reaches beyond literature. Aim at outcomes and attention drifts from craft to metrics; anxiety rises, shortcuts tempt, and the work loses density. Aim at the process, and the habits that produce excellence strengthen. There is a Stoic echo here: we do not control results, only our judgments and actions. The consequence language suggests causality, not indifference. Success is not rejected; it is repositioned as what follows when the cause is right.
There is also an ethical dimension. A goal that depends on others approval invites self-betrayal. A goal anchored in standards you can uphold—clarity, rigor, usefulness, beauty—grounds a life. Paradoxically, this detachment often yields the very results others chase, because it liberates attention for the task itself. Think of success as the shadow cast by steadfast work. Stand in the right light, and the shadow appears. Turn to grab it, and it slips away.
The line speaks from a 19th-century literary world already governed by the market, the feuilleton, and the cult of celebrity, all of which Flaubert distrusted. He watched bourgeois values narrow art into careerism and utility, and he insisted on impersonal art that refused both preaching and pandering. Ironically, scandal and acclaim found him anyway after the trial over Madame Bovary. That history sharpens the point: recognition can arrive, but if it becomes the compass, it will mislead.
The principle reaches beyond literature. Aim at outcomes and attention drifts from craft to metrics; anxiety rises, shortcuts tempt, and the work loses density. Aim at the process, and the habits that produce excellence strengthen. There is a Stoic echo here: we do not control results, only our judgments and actions. The consequence language suggests causality, not indifference. Success is not rejected; it is repositioned as what follows when the cause is right.
There is also an ethical dimension. A goal that depends on others approval invites self-betrayal. A goal anchored in standards you can uphold—clarity, rigor, usefulness, beauty—grounds a life. Paradoxically, this detachment often yields the very results others chase, because it liberates attention for the task itself. Think of success as the shadow cast by steadfast work. Stand in the right light, and the shadow appears. Turn to grab it, and it slips away.
Quote Details
| Topic | Success |
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