Paul Valery

“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.”

“To write regular verses destroys an infinite number of fine possibilities, but at the same time it suggests a multitude of distant and totally unexpected thoughts.”

“God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through.”

“Politeness is organized indifference.”

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

“History is the science of things which are not repeated.”

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

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

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