Charles Baudelaire (9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867 / Paris)

poet Charles Baudelaire
#64 on top 500 poets

Quotations

  • ''I have always been astonished that women were allowed to enter churches. What conversation can they possibly have with God?
    The eternal Venus (caprice, hysteria, fantasy) is one of the seductive forms of the Devil.''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. My Heart Laid Bare, LXII (1887).
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  • ''The artist is today and has been for many years, despite his absence of merit, simply a spoiled child. So many honors, so much money bestowed on men without souls and without education.''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. The Salon of 1859, I. The Modern Artist (1859).
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  • ''The fact that several men were able to become infatuated with that latrine is truly the proof of the decline of the men of this century.''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. My Heart Laid Bare, XXXI (1887). On the writer George Sand (1804-1876).
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  • ''What a mysterious faculty is that queen of the faculties!''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. The Salon of 1859, III. The Queen of the Faculties (1859). On imagination.
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  • ''Eternal superiority of the Dandy.
    What is the Dandy?''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. My Heart Laid Bare, XXIV (1887).
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  • ''That in all times, mediocrity has dominated, that is indubitable; but that it reigns more than ever, that it is becoming absolutely triumphant and inhibiting, this is what is as true as it is distressing.''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. The Salon of 1859, I. The Modern Artist (1859).
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  • ''Always be a poet, even in prose.''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. My Heart Laid Bare, LXVI (1887).
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  • ''France is not poetic; she even feels, in fact, a congenital horror of poetry. Among the writers who use verse, those whom she will always prefer are the most prosaic.''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. "Théophile Gautier," part V (1859).
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  • ''These great and beautiful ships, imperceptibly rocking like waddling ducks on tranquil waters, these robust ships, with their idle and nostalgic air, aren't they telling us in a silent tongue: When are we leaving for happiness?''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. My Heart Laid Bare, VIII (1887).
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  • ''To handle a language skillfully is to practice a kind of evocative sorcery.''
    Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. "Théophile Gautier," part III (1859).
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Get Drunk

Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
Get drunk and stay that way.
On what?

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