To handle a language skillfully is to practice a kind of evocative sorcery.

Quote by Charles Baudelaire

Topics: Charles Baudelaire Quotes

The unique and supreme voluptuousness of love lies in the certainty of committing evil. And...

The unique and supreme voluptuousness of love lies in the certainty of committing evil. And...

Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the...

Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the...

Always be a poet, even in prose.

Always be a poet, even in prose.

In literature as in ethics, there is danger, as well as glory, in being subtle....

In literature as in ethics, there is danger, as well as glory, in being subtle....

Who would dare assign to art the sterile function of imitating nature?

Who would dare assign to art the sterile function of imitating nature?

Hypocrite reader my fellow my brother!

Hypocrite reader my fellow my brother!

Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself.

Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself.

We are all born marked for evil.

We are all born marked for evil.

There is no dream of love, however ideal it may be, which does not end...

There is no dream of love, however ideal it may be, which does not end...

Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony.

Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony.

I am unable to understand how a man of honor could take a newspaper in...

I am unable to understand how a man of honor could take a newspaper in...

Those men get along best with women who can get along best without them.

Those men get along best with women who can get along best without them.

To the solemn graves, near a lonely cemetery, my heart like a muffled drum is...

To the solemn graves, near a lonely cemetery, my heart like a muffled drum is...

Everything for me becomes allegory.

Everything for me becomes allegory.

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

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

It is from the womb of art that criticism was born.

It is from the womb of art that criticism was born.

Genius is childhood recalled at will.

Genius is childhood recalled at will.

The priest is an immense being because he makes the crowd believe astonishing things.

The priest is an immense being because he makes the crowd believe astonishing things.

A sweetheart is a bottle of wine, a wife is a wine bottle.

A sweetheart is a bottle of wine, a wife is a wine bottle.

The poet enjoys the incomparable privilege of being able to be himself and others, as...

The poet enjoys the incomparable privilege of being able to be himself and others, as...