The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.

The job of the poet (a job which can't be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.

Without opium, plans, marriages and journeys appear to me just as foolish as if someone falling out of a window were to hope to make friends with the occupants of the room before which he passes.

Poets don't draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.

I've always preferred mythology to history. History is truth that becomes an illusion. Mythology is an illusion that becomes reality.

Expect neither reward nor beatitude. Return noble waves for ignoble.

All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.