Paul Claudel quotes

Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist, and diplomat, known for his deeply spiritual and symbolic works. His writing explored themes of faith, beauty, and human destiny, often blending poetic language with religious fervor. He had a significant influence on modern French literature and served as an ambassador in several countries. Here are 10 of his quotes:

In the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of champagne.

Paul Claudel

Art imitates nature not in its effects as such, but in its causes, in its ‘manner,' in its process, which are nothing but a participation in and a derivation of actual objects, of the Art of God himself.

Paul Claudel

Intelligence is nothing without delight.

Paul Claudel

All that passes is raised to the dignity of expression; all that happens is raised to the dignity of meaning. Everything is either symbol or parable.

Paul Claudel

It is fortunate that diplomats have long noses since they usually cannot see beyond them.

Paul Claudel

I had completely forgotten about religion and in this respect had a savage ignorance of it. The first glimmer of truth came to me through an encounter with a great poet, who played a predominant part in the formation of my thinking and to whom I owe an eternal debt, Arthur Rimbaud. Reading Illuminations, then a few months later, Use Saison en Enfer was for me a capital event. For the first time, his books opened a crack in my materialist servitude and gave me a vivid and almost physical impression of the supernatural.

Paul Claudel

There is something sadder to lose than life – the reason for living; Sadder than to lose one's possessions is to lose one's hope.

Paul Claudel

For things and for poems, there is but one way of being new, and that is to be true; there is only one way of being young, and that is to be eternal.

Paul Claudel

Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or remove it. He came to fill it with His Presence.

Paul Claudel