A bad poem is one that vanishes into meaning. Paul Valery More Quotes by Paul Valery More Quotes From Paul Valery Whoever wants to accomplish great things must devote to a lot of profound thought to details. Paul Valery detailsinspirationalprofound My hand feels touched as well as it touches; reality says this, and nothing more. Paul Valery wellshandsreality The great virtues of the German people have created more evils than idleness ever did vices Paul Valery insultingevilpeople My soul is nothing now but the dream dreamt by matter struggling with itself! Paul Valery soulstruggledream Great things are accomplished by men who are not conscious of the impotence of man. Such insensitiveness is precious. But we must admit that criminals are not unlike our heroes in this respect. Paul Valery criminalsheromen Interruption, incoherence, surprise are the ordinary conditions of our life. They have even become real needs for many people, whose minds are no longer fed by anything but sudden changes and constantly renewed stimuli. We can no longer bear anything that lasts. We no longer know how to make boredom bear fruit. So the whole question comes down to this: can the human mind master what the human mind has made? Paul Valery boredomrealpeople It is a law of nature that we defend ourselves from one affection only by means of another. Paul Valery affectionlawmean History justifies whatever we want it to. It teaches absolutely nothing, for it contains everything and gives examples of everything. Paul Valery examplewantgiving Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature. Paul Valery successfulsciencemean Photography invites one to give up any attempt to delineate such things as can delineate themselves. Paul Valery giving-upphotographygiving History is the science of things which are not repeated. Paul Valery science A poet's work consists less in seeking words for his ideas than in seeking ideas for his words and predominant rhythms. Paul Valery poetryideasart The power of verse stems from an indefinable harmony between when it says and what it is. Paul Valery harmonypoetryart The future, like everything else, is no longer quite what it used to be. Paul Valery used-to-beused Everything changes but the avant-garde. Paul Valery avant-gardethings-change A painter should not paint what he sees but what should be seen. Paul Valery La politique est l'art d'empcher les gens de se mler de ce qui les regarde. (Politics is the art of preventing people from sticking their noses in things that are properly their business. Paul Valery Latent in every man is a venom of amazing bitterness, a black resentment; something that curses and loathes life, a feeling of being trapped, of having trusted and been fooled, of being the helpless prey of impotent rage, blind surrender, the victim of a savage, ruthless power that gives and takes away, enlists a man, and crowning injury inflicts upon him the humiliation of feeling sorry for himself. Paul Valery Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. Paul Valery What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves. Paul Valery
