Stéphane Mallarmé

"If only I'd chosen an easy work! But, precisely, I, who am sterile and crepuscular, have chosen a terrifying subject, whose sensations , if they are strong, reach the point of atrocity, and if they ar…"

"Inert, all burns in the fierce hour"

"In a museum in London there is an exhibit called "The Value of Man": a long coffinlike box with lots of compartments where they've put starch—phosphorus—flour—bottles of water and alcohol—and big piec…"

"It is in front of the paper that the artist creates himself."

"Yes, I know, we are merely empty forms of matter, but we are indeed sublime in having invented God and our soul. So sublime, my friend, that I want to gaze upon matter, fully conscious that it exists,…"

"Degas was discussing poetry with Mallarmé; "It isn't ideas I'm short of... I've got too many" , said Degas. "But Degas," replied Mallarmé, "you can't make a poem with ideas. … You make it with words."

"Selected works of Stéphane Mallarmé in French"