And I am still alive-what though, my damnation is eternal. A man who deliberately mutilates himself is truly damned, is he not? I believe that I am in hell, therefore I am.
Arthur RimbaudOne evening I sat Beauty on my knees โ And I found her bitter โ And I reviled her.
Arthur RimbaudThe Poet makes himself a seer through a long, vast and painstaking derangement of all the senses
Arthur RimbaudThe poet, therefore, is truly the thief of fire. He is responsible for humanity, for animals even; he will have to make sure his visions can be smelled, fondled, listened to; if what he brings back from beyond has form, he gives it form; if it has none, he gives it none. A language must be foundโฆof the soul, for the soul and will include everything: perfumes, sounds colors, thought grappling with thought
Arthur RimbaudFor a long time I found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry ridiculous. I loved absurd pictures, fanlights, stage scenery, mountebanks backcloths, inn-signs, cheap colored prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, pornographic books badly spelt, grandmothers novels, fairy stories, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, simple rhythms.
Arthur Rimbaud