Quotes by Paul Valery

About Paul Valery:

Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events. Valéry was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 12 different years.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

Paul Valery

God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly.

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

Politics is the art of preventing people from busying themselves with what is their own business.

Paul Valery

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.

Paul Valery

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.

Paul Valery

At times I think and at times I am.

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best.

Paul Valery

L'histoire est le produit le plus dangereux que la chimie de l'intellect ait élaboré. Ses propriétés sont bien connues. Il fait rêver, il enivre les peuples, leur engendre de faux souvenirs, exagère leurs réflexes, entretient leurs vieilles pl...

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder.

Paul Valery

A man is infinitely more complicated than his thoughts.

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.

Paul Valery

We are enriched by our reciprocate differences.

Paul Valery

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

Paul Valery

Author Bio

  • NamePaul Valery
  • DescriptionFrench poet, essayist, and philosopher
  • BornOctober 30, 1871
  • DiedJuly 20, 1945
  • CountryFrance
  • ProfessionPhilosopher; Poet; Journalist; Writer; Essayist