The years I have squandered in puerile excitement, in going hither and thither, in seeking to force nature and time, I ought to have spent in solitude and meditation, in endeavoring to make myself worthy of being loved. — Theophile Gautier Copy Share Image
“(Decadent style) is ingenious, complicated, learned, full of shades of meaning and research, always pushing further the limits of language... forcing itself to express… — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution. — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
It is difficult to obtain the friendship of a cat. It is a philosophical animal... one that does not place its affections thoughtlessly. — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
[A cat] will make itself the companion of your hours of work, of loneliness, or of sadness. — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
“It is as absurd to say that a man is a drunkard because he describes an orgy or a debauchee because he recounts a… — Théophile Gautier Copy Share
It may well be that the pictures of Courbet, Manet, Monet and their like contain beauties which escape the notice of such old romantic… — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
“What is the use of beauty in woman? Provided a woman is physically well made and capable of bearing children, she will always be… — Théophile Gautier Copy Share
“Smoke By Théophile Gautier Translated by Norman R. Shapiro Over there, trees are sheltering A hunchedback hut... A slum, no more... Roof askew, walls… — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
There is nothing truly beautiful but that which can never be of any use whatsoever; everything useful is ugly, for it is the expression… — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind. — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
“This apparent hurly-burly and disorder turn out, after all, to reproduce real life with its fantastic ways more accurately than the most carefully studied… — Théophile Gautier Copy Share
The word poet literally means maker: anything which is not well made doesn't exist. — Theophile Gautier Copy Share
“I have kept thee long in waiting, dear Romuald, and thou mayst well have thought that I had forgotten thee. But I have come… — Théophile Gautier Copy Share
