"He possessed the logic of all good intentions and a knowledge of all the tricks of his trade, and yet he never succeeded at anything, because he belie...
Always be a poet, even in prose.
More Charles Baudelaire quotes
"Do you remember the sight we saw, my soul,that soft summer morninground a turning in the path,the disgusting carcass on a bed scattered with stones,it...
"One should always be drunk. That's all that matters...But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you chose. But get drunk.
"If rape or arson, poison or the knifeHas wove no pleasing patterns in the stuffOf this drab canvas we accept as life -It is because we are not bold en...
"The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry wit...
"Looking from outside into an open window one never sees as much as when one looks through a closed window. There is nothing more profound, more myster...
"Any healthy man can go without food for two days--but not without poetry.
"With heart at rest I climbed the citadel'sSteep height, and saw the city as from a tower,Hospital, brothel, prison, and such hells,Where evil comes up...
"Tell me, enigmatical man, whom do you love best, your father,Your mother, your sister, or your brother?I have neither father, nor mother, nor sister, ...
"It is the hour to be drunken! to escape being the martyred slaves of time, be ceaselessly drunk. On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish.
"And, drunk with my own madness, I shouted at him furiously, "Make life beautiful! Make life beautiful!
"Inspiration comes of working every day.
"I have cultivated my hysteria with joy and terror.
"If the word doesn't exist, invent it; but first be sure it doesn't exist.
"Isn't it true that a pleasant house makes winter more poetic, and doesn't winter add to the poetry of a house?