219 Quotes by Paul Valéry

Une difficulté est une lumière. Une difficulté insurmontable est un soleil.

For the fact is that disorder is the condition of the mind's fertility: it contains the mind's promise, since its fertility depends on the unexpected rather than the expected, depends on what we do not know, and because we do not know it, than what we know.

Sometime I think; and sometime I am.

La conscience règne mais ne gouverne pas.

What a pity to see a mind as great as Napoleon's devoted to trivial things such as empires, historic events, the thundering of cannons and of men; he believed in glory, in posterity, in Caesar; nations in turmoil and other trifles absorbed all his attention ... How could he fail to see that what really mattered was something else entirely?

Loyal par paresse, honnête par lâcheté, bon par relâchement, doux par crainte, intelligent par avidité, sobre par hygiène - c'est ainsi que l'on peut avoir toutes les vertus.

To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.

The Best Way To Make Your Dreams Come True is To Wake Up

Cognition reigns but does not rule.