Nothing retains less of desire in art, in science, than this will to industry, booty, possession.

The simplest act of surrealism is to walk out into the street, gun in hand, and shoot at random.

Past and future monopolize the poet’s sensory and intellectual faculties, detached from the immediate spectacle. These two philtres become utterly clear the moment one stops being hypnotized by the cloudy precipitate constituted by the world of today.

Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

At the outset, it is only liking, not understanding, that matters. Gaps in understanding ... are not only important, they are perhaps even welcome, like clearings in the woods, the better to allow the heart's rays to stream out without obstacle. The unlit shadows should remain obscure, which is the very condition of enchantment.

It is more or less a given that nothing is less favorable to clairvoyance than the bright sun: physical light and mental light coexist on very poor terms.

How small these rescued tides appear! Earthly delights flow in torrents. Each object offers paradise.