Literary imagination is an aesthetic object offered by a writer to a lover of books. Gaston Bachelard More Quotes by Gaston Bachelard More Quotes From Gaston Bachelard Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul. Gaston Bachelard vacuumssoulmind To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful. Gaston Bachelard readingbeautifulmean Our whole childhood remains to be reimagined. In reimagining it, we have the possibility of recovering it in the very life of our reveries as a solitary child. Gaston Bachelard reimaginingchildhoodchildren Poetry is one of the destinies of speech... One would say that the poetic image, in its newness, opens a future to language. Gaston Bachelard destinyspeechlanguage Childhood lasts all through life. Gaston Bachelard childhoodlasts For a knowledge of intimacy, localization in the spaces of our intimacy is more urgent than determination of dates. Gaston Bachelard intimacyspacedetermination A book is a human fact; a great book like Seraphita gathers together numerous psychological elements. These elements become coherent through a sort of psychological beauty. It does the reader a service. Gaston Bachelard togetherbeautybook The best proof of the specificity of the book is that it is at once a reality of the virtual and a virtuality of the real. Gaston Bachelard proofrealbook Sometimes, when I am tired of so many oscillations, I look for refuge in a word which I begin to love for itself. Resting in the heart of words, seeing clearly into the cell of a word, feeling that the word is the seed of a life, a growing dawn... The poet Vandercammen says all that in a line: "A word can be a dawn and even a sure shelter." Gaston Bachelard tiredheartlife Of course, a psychologist would find it more direct to study the inspired poet. He would make concrete studies of inspiration in individual geniuses. But for all that, would he experience the phenomena of inspiration? His human documentation gathered from inspired poets could hardly be related, except from the exterior, in an ideal of objective observations. Comparison of inspired poets would soon make us lose sight of inspiration. Gaston Bachelard documentationinspirationsight It is not a question of observation which propels mankind forward as if toward a looking glass of great magnitude; it is an instance of aggrandized reflection that insinuates the human psyche to the inhuman. Gaston Bachelard mankindglassesreflection Whoever lives for poetry must read everything. How often has the light of a new idea sprung for me from a simple brochure! When one allows himself to be animated by new images, he discovers iridescence in the images of old books. Poetic ages unite in a living memory. The new age awakens the old. The old age comes to live again in the new. Poetry is never as unified as when it diversifies. Gaston Bachelard simplememoriesbook The poetic image […] is not an echo of the past. On the contrary: through the brilliance of any image, the distant past resounds with echoes. Gaston Bachelard poeticechoespast The image can only be studied through the image, by dreaming images as they gather in reverie. It is a non-sense to claim to study imagination objectively since one really receives the image only if he admires it. Already in comparing one image to another, one runs the risk of losing participation in its individuality. Gaston Bachelard objectivitydreamrunning Instead of looking for the dream in reverie, people should look for reverie in the dream. There are calm beaches in the midst of nightmares. Gaston Bachelard dreambeachpeople The characteristic of scientific progress is our knowing that we did not know. Gaston Bachelard progressknowingscience The human mind has claimed for water one of its highest values-the value of purity. Gaston Bachelard puritymindwater At all times and in all fields the explanation by fire is a rich explanation. Gaston Bachelard richfieldsfire One must always maintain one's connection to the past and yet ceaselessly pull away from it. To remain in touch with the past requires a love of memory. To remain in touch with the past requires a constant imaginative effort. Gaston Bachelard timelovememories The night dreamer cannot articulate a cogito. The night dream is a dream without a dreamer. Gaston Bachelard dreamerdreamnight
