You do not become a critic until it has been completely established to your own satisfaction that you cannot be a poet.
Theophile GautierOnce [a cat] has given its love, what absolute confidence, what fidelity of affection!
Theophile GautierWhat well-bred woman would refuse her heart to a man who had just saved her life? Not one; and gratitude is a short cut which speedily leads to love.
Theophile GautierYes, the work comes out more beautiful from a material that resists the process, verse, marble, onyx, or enamel.
Theophile GautierThere is nothing truly beautiful but that which can never be of any use whatsoever; everything useful is ugly, for it is the expression of some need, and man's needs are ignoble and disgusting like his own poor and infirm nature. The most useful place in a house is the water-closet.
Theophile Gautier