"France is not poetic she even feels, in fact, a congenital horror of poetry. Among the writers who use verse, those whom she will always prefer are the most prosaic."

"Nature... is nothing but the inner voice of self-interest."

"I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no Melancholy."

"Evil is committed without effort, naturally, fatally goodness is always the product of some art."

"Poetry, almost by definition, calls attention to its language and form."

"A poem is a naked person... Some people say that I am a poet."

"Music can be made anywhere, is invisible and does not smell."

"Death is the king of this world: 'Tis his park where he breeds life to feed him. Cries of pain are music for his banquet."