To be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home; to see the world, to be at the centre of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the worldโimpartial natures which the tongue can but clumsily define. The spectator is a prince who everywhere rejoices in his incognito.
Charles BaudelaireThese beings have no other status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons, of satisfying their passions, of feeling and thinking.... Contrary to what many thoughtless people seem to believe, dandyism is not even an excessive delight in clothes and material elegance. For the perfect dandy, these things are no more than the symbol of the aristocratic superiority of his mind.
Charles BaudelaireOur squalid society rushed, Narcissus to a man, to gaze on its trivial image on a scrap of metal.
Charles BaudelaireLife has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if weโre indifferent to whether we win or lose?
Charles BaudelaireFor the perfect idler, for the passionate observer it becomes an immense source of enjoyment to establish his dwelling in the throng, in the ebb and flow, the bustle, the fleeting and the infinite. To be away from home and yet to feel at home anywhere; to see the world, to be at the very centre of the world, and yet to be unseen of the world, such are some of the minor pleasures of those independent, intense and impartial spirits, who do not lend themselves easily to linguistic definitions. The observer is a prince enjoying his incognito wherever he goes.
Charles Baudelaire