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History is the science of what never happens twice.

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
Twice
History
Science
Happens
Never

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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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That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
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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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The power of verse stems from an indefinable harmony between when it says and what it is.
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Collect all the facts that can be collected about the life of Racine and you will never learn from them the art of his verse. All criticism is dominated by the outworn theory that the man is the cause of the work as in the eyes of the law the criminal is the cause of the crime. Far rather are they both the effects.
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Everything changes but the avant-garde.
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What golden hour of life, what glittering moment will ever equal the pain its loss can cause?
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A man is infinitely more complicated than his thoughts.
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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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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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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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Advertising has annihilated the power of the most powerful adjectives.
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A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone.
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The advantage of the incomprehensible is that it never loses its freshness.
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A poem is never finished, only abandoned.
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[Beauty is] that which makes us despair.
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The mind has transformed the world, and the world is repaying it with interest. It has led man where he had no idea how to go.
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My hand feels touched as well as it touches reality says this, and nothing more.
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One should be light like a bird, and not like a feather.
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Having precise ideas often leads to a man doing nothing.
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