Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature’s monotony. The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed. The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art, would at once vanish. Everything would break up in chaos. There would be no seasons, no civilization, no thought, no humanity; even life would give way, and the impotent void would reign everywhere.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Artists, Art, Arts
To insist on purity is to baptize instinct, to humanize art, and to deify personality.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
The plastic virtues: purity, unity, and truth, keep nature in subjection.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Nature
I don’t want to work. I want to smoke.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Work
Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Joy, Happiness
I love men, not for what unites them, but for what divides them, and I want to know most of all what gnaws at their hearts.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Humanity, Humankind
We cannot carry our father’s corpse with us everywhere we go.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Live-now
“Come to the edge,” he said. They said, “We are afraid.” “Come to the edge,” he said. They came. He pushed them … and they flew!.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Fear, Courage
A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Science, Architecture
Memories are hunting horns whose sound dies on the wind.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: One liners, Memories
Artists are, above all, men who want to become inhuman.
—Guillaume Apollinaire
Topics: Art, Artists, Arts
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Jean de La Fontaine French Poet
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Remy de Gourmont French Poet
Victor Hugo French Novelist
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Mario Andretti Italian-born American Sportsperson
Gian Carlo Menotti Italian-born American Composer