Paul Valery

The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us.

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.

A man is a poet if difficulties inherent in his art provide him with ideas; he is not a poet if they deprive him of ideas.

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

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

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

Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature.

Serious-minded people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.

We are enriched by our reciprocate differences.

Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder.

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

Love is being stupid together.