Of all the icy blasts that blow on love, a request for money is the most chilling.

Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary (1857), Part III, Chapter 8, trans. Francis Steegmuller Verified source · How we source quotes
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Near the end of Madame Bovary, Emma, ruined by debt, goes to her former lover Rodolphe and asks him for money. He tells her he does not have it. Flaubert's narrator notes that he was not lying, and that he might have given it if he had, though such gifts are rarely pleasant. Then comes the line about love and requests for money.

Source: Madame Bovary (1857), Part III, Chapter 8, trans. Francis Steegmuller

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