A man is infinitely more complicated than his thoughts. - Paul Valery
Man is only man at the surface. Remove the skin, dissect, and immediately you come to machinery. - Paul Valery
The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us. - Paul Valery
That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false. - Paul Valery
Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content. - Paul Valery
It is a law of nature that we defend ourselves from one affection only by means of another. - Paul Valery
The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. - Paul Valery
A man who is 'of sound mind' is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key. - Paul Valery
A poem is never finished, only abandoned. - Paul Valery
Love is being stupid together. - Paul Valery
Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. - Paul Valery
A painter should not paint what he sees but what should be seen. - Paul Valery