Renée Vivien quotes

Renée Vivien was a British-born poet who wrote primarily in French and became a leading figure of the Belle Époque's literary scene. Her poetry explored themes of love, femininity, and melancholy, often inspired by her own relationships. She is remembered as a pioneer of lesbian literature and an icon of early 20th-century symbolism. Here are 12 of her quotes:

I was born under an unlucky star. I love France and I am not French. I am English and I can't like England. My father was Scotch, my mother was born in Honolulu. My father, William Tarn, died at the age of forty in 1890. My real name is Pauline Tarn. I changed it to Renée Vivien.

Renée Vivien

I am a mediocre being, a bit cunning.

Renée Vivien

I have no right to beauty. I had been condemned to masculine ugliness.

Renée Vivien

I detest heavy perfume and shrill voices.

Renée Vivien

What matters to us, the judgment of men? What have we to doubt, since we are pure before life?

Renée Vivien

[Charles Brun] was so charming that I always write to him as "My dear Charlotte!"

Renée Vivien

What a disgrace to live at the beginning of the 20th century. ... One is always influenced by one's own time. And ours is that of Sarah Bernhardt and Rostand. Things will be much better in another ten years. You will see a new art born, new and beautiful. You will see that, but I shall not. I shall be dead. But ... Sarah Bernhardt will live forever, and go on playing L'AIGLON forever!

Renée Vivien

Men smell of leather. ... The leather of huntsmen, furniture movers, porters.

Renée Vivien

I'm not logical. I'm infected with the romantic fever. It began in my teens when I read Baudelaire in secret, in a country boarding school in England from which I slipped away by climbing over the wall. I was fifteen, the same age as Juliet--a Juliet for whom Romeo had no attraction.

Renée Vivien

Under the sun the summer grasses fade. The rose, expiring after the harsh ravage Of the heat, languishes toward the shade. Sleep drips from the foliage.

Renée Vivien