quotes from classic

Nothing retains less of desire in art, in science, than this will to industry, booty, possession.

more quotes from André Breton

Tact is knowing how far to go too far.

more quotes from Jean Cocteau

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizzare which seems inherent in them.

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The extreme limit of wisdom-- that is what the public calls madness.

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If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking again he no longer experiences the discomfort of his first addiction. There exists, therefore, outside alkaloids and habit, a sense for opium, an intangible habit which lives on, despite the recasting of the organism. The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.

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Art is science made clear.

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The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, they finish by loading honors on your head.

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I know that poetry is indispensable, but to what I could not say.

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Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.

more quotes from Jean Cocteau

Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.

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The Louver is a morgue; you go there to identify your friends.

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The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.

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A little too much is just enough.

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I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp names that never get fat.

more quotes from Stephen Vincent Benet

Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.

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We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.

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Honesty is as rare as a man without self-pity.

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I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy, golden storm, yes many loved before us, I know we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you, but now it's come to distances and both of us must try, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

more quotes from Leonard Cohen

I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That's what sitting on your ass does to your face.

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The ages of seven to eleven is a huge chunk of life, full of dulling and forgetting. It is fabled that we slowly lose the gift of speech with animals, that birds no longer visit our windowsills to converse. As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armour themselves against wonder.

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