Paul Valéry Quotes

“Degas is one of the very few painters who have given the floor its true importance.”

“Art is not what you see but what you make others see”

“I want to be famous but unknown!”

“The poet Mallarmé listened to the painter Degas complaining about his inability to write poems even though “he was full of ideas.” “My dear Degas,” Mallarmé responded, “poems are not made out of ideas. They’re made out of words.”

“Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.”

“It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.”

“Painting is easy when you don't know how but very difficult when you do.”

“The creation of a painting takes as much trickery and premeditation as the commitment of a crime.”

“We were created to look at one another, weren't we”

“Muses work all day long and then at night get together and dance...”