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July 15, 2007 10:28 AM

Please help me remember a quote... it's about the need to be ordered in parts of one's life, so one can be spontaneous in the rest...

I have the feeling it would be really easy to search for on the web if I could remember any of the words. I seem to recall it being someone reflecting on their personal need for organization, and I believe it was some sort of artist or writer who said it.

Ring any bells?

posted by regicide is good for you to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

Best answer: You must be regular and natural in your habits like a bourgeois; so that you may be violent and original in your work. - Flaubert

Copied from here, no doubt there are a few slightly different versions knocking around.
posted by teleskiving at 10:53 AM on July 15, 2007 [15 favorites]

Well, I found a quote by Mark Caine (whoever he is/was): "Meticulous planning will enable everything a man does to appear spontaneous." The meaning of that would seem not to be the same as what you were driving at, but its similarity to what you were looking for made me think it worth mentioning.
posted by cerebus19 at 10:54 AM on July 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

I like the Flaubert quote teleskiving found better, though.
posted by cerebus19 at 10:56 AM on July 15, 2007

Response by poster: Yep, that's the one I remember. Though the version I once read didn't have the "bourgeois" part... I kind of like it even better for that.

Thanks.
posted by regicide is good for you at 10:59 AM on July 15, 2007