Charles Baudelaire Quotes

A collection of quotes by Charles Baudelaire.

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a highly influential French poet, essayist, and literary critic. Born in Paris, Baudelaire was raised in a middle-class family, which provided him with a comfortable upbringing. However, he rebelled against conventional life and his family's wishes by pursuing an unconventional lifestyle and immersing himself in bohemian and artistic circles.

Baudelaire's poetic works, particularly his collection "Les Fleurs du Mal" (The Flowers of Evil), were groundbreaking and controversial. Published in 1857, the collection depicted themes of decadence, eroticism, and inner turmoil, challenging societal norms and exploring the darker facets of the human experience. While the collection garnered both praise and criticism for its provocative content, it solidified Baudelaire's reputation as a poetic genius.

Beyond his poetic contributions, Baudelaire also made significant contributions to literary criticism. His essays, collected in "Le Spleen de Paris" (also known as "Paris Spleen"), provided profound insights into various aspects of art and literature. Baudelaire's critical work influenced subsequent generations of writers and continues to be highly regarded to this day.

Despite struggling with financial difficulties and health issues, including a lifelong battle with syphilis, Baudelaire left a lasting impact on French literature. His poetry and critical writings broke away from traditional forms and content, inspiring generations of poets and artists to explore new realms of expression. Charles Baudelaire remains one of the most celebrated figures in French literature, recognized for his innovative style and profound exploration of human emotions and experiences.

To say the word Romanticism is to say modern art - that is,

To say the word Romanticism is to say modern art - that is, intimacy, spirituality, color, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to the arts.

Charles Baudelaire

France is not poetic she even feels, in fact, a congenital h

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.

Charles Baudelaire

Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not w

Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry.

Charles Baudelaire

Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent it

Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immovable.

Charles Baudelaire

Evil is done without effort, naturally, it is the working of

Evil is done without effort, naturally, it is the working of fate good is always the product of an art.

Charles Baudelaire

Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of univer

Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to the individual and asks no better than to be celebrated in each man's own language - so long as he knows anguish and is a painter.

Charles Baudelaire

As the end of the century approaches, all our culture is lik

As the end of the century approaches, all our culture is like flies at the beginning of winter. Having lost their agility, dreamy and demented, they turn slowly about the window in the first icy mists of morning,...then they fall down the curtains.

Charles Baudelaire

The beautiful is always bizarre.

The beautiful is always bizarre.

Charles Baudelaire

Life Art Beauty Baudelaire

Strangeness is a necessary ingredient in beauty.

Strangeness is a necessary ingredient in beauty.

Charles Baudelaire

Beauty Strangeness

I sit in the sky like a sphinx misunderstood; My heart of sn

I sit in the sky like a sphinx misunderstood; My heart of snow is wed to the whiteness of swans; I hate the movement that displaces the rigid lines, With lips untaught neither tears nor laughter do I know.

Charles Baudelaire

Beauty Charles Baudelaire The Flowers Of Evil

There are women who inspire you with the desire to conquer t

There are women who inspire you with the desire to conquer them and to take your pleasure of them; but this one fills you only with the desire to die slowly beneath her gaze.

Charles Baudelaire

There is no dream of love, however ideal it may be, which do

There is no dream of love, however ideal it may be, which does not end up with a fat, greedy baby hanging from the breast.

Charles Baudelaire

Love Dreams Theend

I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is

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

Charles Baudelaire

There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest,

There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill, to create.

Charles Baudelaire

The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in

The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.

Charles Baudelaire

Common sense tells us that the things of the earth exist onl

Common sense tells us that the things of the earth exist only a little, and that true reality is only in dreams.

Charles Baudelaire

Modernity is the transitory, the fugitive, the contingent, w

Modernity is the transitory, the fugitive, the contingent, which make up one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immutable. This transitory fugitive element, which is constantly changing, must not be despised or neglected.

Charles Baudelaire

It is time to get drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves

It is time to get drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of Time, get drunk get drunk without stopping! On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish.

Charles Baudelaire

It would be difficult for me not to conclude that the most p

It would be difficult for me not to conclude that the most perfect type of masculine beauty is Satan, as portrayed by Milton.

Charles Baudelaire

An artist is an artist only because of his exquisite sense o

An artist is an artist only because of his exquisite sense of beauty, a sense which shows him intoxicating pleasures, but which at the same time implies and contains an equally exquisite sense of all deformities and all disproportion.

Charles Baudelaire