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

—Paul Valéry

More quotations from Paul Valéry

A man is infinitely more complicated than his thoughts.

—Paul Valéry

What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves.

—Paul Valéry

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

—Paul Valéry

art work completion abandoning

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.

—Paul Valéry

truth discovery knowledge error self paradox

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

—Paul Valéry

politics power people democracy control

History

15 Jul 2015 Added