Etre un homme utile m'a paru toujours quelque chose de bien hideux. To be useful has always seemed to me quite hideous. Charles Baudelaire More Quotes by Charles Baudelaire More Quotes From Charles Baudelaire Strangeness is a necessary ingredient in beauty. Charles Baudelaire strangenessingredients Whether you come from heaven or hell, what does it matter, O Beauty! Charles Baudelaire matterdoeheaven To dream magnificently is not a gift given to all men, and even for those who possess it, it runs a strong risk of being progressively diminished by the ever-growing dissipation of modern life and by the restlessness engendered by material progress. The ability to dream is a divine and mysterious ability; because it is through dreams that man communicates with the shadowy world which surrounds him. But this power needs solitude to develop freely; the more one concentrates, the more one is likely to dream fully, deeply. Charles Baudelaire strongdreamrunning You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it-it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk. But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk. Charles Baudelaire drunkwinewish Nothing can be done except little by little. Charles Baudelaire perseverancedoneliterature The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist. Charles Baudelaire devildoelife To say the word Romanticism is to say modern art - that is, intimacy, spirituality, color, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to the arts. Charles Baudelaire colormeanart God is the only being who, in order to reign, doesn't even need to exist. Charles Baudelaire godorderneeds What can an eternity of damnation matter to someone who has felt, if only for a second, the infinity of delight? Charles Baudelaire damnationdelightmatter A multitude of small delights constitute happiness Charles Baudelaire multitudesdelighthappiness I will drop into your chest like a vegetal ambrosia. I will be the grain that regenerates the cruelly plowed furrow. Poetry will be born of our intimate union. A god we shall create together, and we shall soar heavenward like sunbeams, perfumes, butterflies, birds, and all winged things. Charles Baudelaire butterflytogetherbird A work of art should be like a well-planned crime. Charles Baudelaire crimeshouldart All forms of beauty, like all possible phenomena, contain an element of the eternal and an element of the transitory - of the absolute and of the particular. Absolute and eternal beauty does not exist, or rather it is only an abstraction creamed from the general surface of different beauties. The particular element in each manifestation comes from the emotions: and just as we have our own particular emotions, so we have our own beauty. Charles Baudelaire doejusticebeauty One should always be drunk. That's all that matters...But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you chose. But get drunk. Charles Baudelaire drunkwinedrinking Dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music Charles Baudelaire mysteriousmeritdancing Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recaptured at will. Charles Baudelaire childhoodgeniusinspire Life has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if we’re indifferent to whether we win or lose? Charles Baudelaire what-ifgameswinning There are women who inspire you with the desire to conquer them and to take your pleasure of them; but this one fills you only with the desire to die slowly beneath her gaze. Charles Baudelaire conquerdesireinspire Those men get along best with women who can get along best without them. Charles Baudelaire literaturemen Life swarms with innocent monsters. Charles Baudelaire strange-phenomenainnocentmonsters
