Paul Valery's Quotes

A man who is 'of sound mind' is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.

History is the science of things which are not repeated.

Long years must pass before the truths we have made for ourselves become our very flesh.

Man's great misfortune is that he has no organ, no kind of eyelid or brake, to mask or block a thought, or all thought, when he wants to.

Poe is the only impeccable writer. He was never mistaken.

Politeness is organized indifference.

Power without abuse loses its charm.

That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.

That which has been believed by everyone, always and everywhere, has every chance of being false.

The history of thought may be summed up in these words: it is absurd by what it seeks and great by what it finds.

The universe is built on a plan the profound symmetry of which is somehow present in the inner structure of our intellect.

To write regular verses destroys an infinite number of fine possibilities, but at the same time it suggests a multitude of distant and totally unexpected thoughts.

Love is being stupid together.

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.

An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.

A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone.

God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through.

A poem is never finished, only abandoned.

A businessman is a hybrid of a dancer and a calculator.

A man's true secrets are more secret to himself than they are to others.

Our judgments judge us, and nothing reveals us, exposes our weaknesses, more ingeniously than the attitude of pronouncing upon our fellows.

War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other.

The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.