“Nothing is really beautiful unless it is useless; everything useful is ugly, for it expresses a need, and the needs of man are ignoble and disgusting, like his poor weak nature. The most useful place in a house is the lavatory.”
Théophile Gautier“It is difficult to obtain the friendship of a cat. It is a philosophical animal... one that does not place its affections thoughtlessly.”
Theophile Gautier“Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution.”
Theophile Gautier“I was born to travel and write verse.”
Theophile Gautier“The cat is a dilettante in fur.”
Theophile Gautier“Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.”
Theophile Gautier“To love is to admire with the heart to admire is to love with the mind. ”
Theophile Gautier“You know, the immortality of the soul, free will and all that -- it's all very amusing to talk about up to the age of twenty-two, but not after that. Then one ought to be giving one's mind to having fun without catching the pox, arranging one's life as comfortably as possible, having a few decent drawings on the wall, and above all writing well. That's the important thing: well-made sentences...and then a few metaphors. Yes, a few metaphors. They embellish a man's existence.”
Théophile Gautier“Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes?”
Théophile Gautier“Nothing is really beautiful unless it is useless; everything useful is ugly, for it expresses a need, and the needs of man are ignoble and disgusting, like his poor weak nature. The most useful place in a house is the lavatory.”
Théophile Gautier“Those horses must have been Spanish jennets, born of mares mated with a zephyr; for they went as swiftly as the wind, and the moon, which had risen at our departure to give us light, rolled through the sky like a wheel detached from its carriage...”
Théophile Gautier, Clarimonde