What are mortals for?—Their business is to know. Know? And … - Paul Valéry

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What are mortals for?—Their business is to know. Know? And what is to know?—It is assuredly: not to be what one is.—And so here are humans raving and thinking, introducing into nature the principle of unlimited error, and myriads of marvels!

Paul Valéry

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About Paul Valéry

Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry (30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French author and Symbolist poet. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath. In addition to his fiction (poetry, drama, and dialogues), he also wrote many essays and aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events.

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Also Known As

Pen Names: Doris

Alternative Names: Paul Ambroise Valery • Paul-Ambroise Valéry • Paul Valery • Paul-Ambroise Valery • Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry • Paul Ambroise Valéry

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Arthur Schopenhauer Friedrich Nietzsche George Santayana Aldous Huxley Thomas Mann

Additional quotes by Paul Valéry

God created man, and finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a female companion so that he might feel his solitude more acutely.

I cannot think that there exists more than one Sovereign Good.

A work is never completed except by some accident such as weariness, satisfaction, the need to deliver, or death: for, in relation to who or what is making it, it can only be one stage in a series of inner transformations.

What are mortals for?—Their business is to know. Know? And what is to know?—It is assuredly: not to be what one is.—And so here are humans raving and… - Paul Valéry

About Paul Valéry

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