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A poem is never finished, only abandoned.

Paul Valery

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Paul Valery
Age: 73 †
Born: 1871
Born: October 30
Died: 1945
Died: July 20
Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic
Philosopher
Poet
Professor
Writer
Cette
Paul Ambroise Valéry
Paul Ambroise Valery
Paul-Ambroise Valéry
Paul Valery
Paul-Ambroise Valery
Life
Poem
Witty
Humorous
Finished
Poetry
Inspirational
Writing
Abandoned
Never
Crafts

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An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.
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The advantage of the incomprehensible is that it never loses its freshness.
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A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone.
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Long years must pass before the truths we have made for ourselves become our very flesh.
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It is a sign of the times, and not a very good sign, that these days it is necessary - and not only necessary but urgent - to interest minds in the fate of Mind, that is to say, in their own fate.
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We hope vaguely but dread precisely.
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To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.
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The commerce of minds was necessarily the first commerce in the world, ... since before bartering things one must barter signs, and it is necessary therefore that signs be instituted.There is no market or exchange without language. The first instrument of all commerce is language.
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Breath, dreams, silence, invincible calm, you triumph.
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Nothing is more natural than mutual misunderstanding the contrary is always surprising. I believe that one never agrees on anything except by mistake, and that all harmony among human beings is the happy fruit of an error.
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One should be light like a bird, and not like a feather.
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A poet's work consists less in seeking words for his ideas than in seeking ideas for his words and predominant rhythms.
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Our judgments judge us, and nothing reveals us, exposes our weaknesses, more ingeniously than the attitude of pronouncing upon our fellows.
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In the physical world, one cannot increase the size or quantity of anything without changing its quality. Similar figures exist only in pure geometry.
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The world acquires value only through its extremes and endures only through moderation extremists make the world great, the moderates give it stability.
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History is the most dangerous product evolved from the chemistry of the intellect. ...History will justify anything. It teaches precisely nothing, for it contains everything and furnishes examples of everything.
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Politics is the art of preventing people from busying themselves with what is their own business.
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[Beauty is] that which makes us despair.
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A man is infinitely more complicated than his thoughts.
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Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature.
Paul Valery