50 Revolutionary Arthur Rimbaud Quotes

Immerse yourself in the world of literary revolution as we delve into “50 Revolutionary Arthur Rimbaud Quotes”. The visionary mind of Rimbaud, a French prodigy who revolutionized poetry at a tender age, is the source of our exploration. He famously changed the course of literature before retiring his pen at the age of just 21, leaving us with a treasury of incisive, evocative, and often tumultuous reflections on life, love, and human nature. As one of the founding fathers of modernist literature, his quotes bear the weight of wisdom and the spark of avant-garde thinking.

Picture this: Arthur Rimbaud, a mere teenager, abandoning the tranquillity of his provincial home in Charleville, embarks on a journey to Paris to breathe life into the stagnating French literary scene. He would then push the boundaries of verse and prose, giving birth to a revolution – a revolution now embodied in these “Revolutionary Arthur Rimbaud Quotes”. Fueled by his insatiable thirst for rebellion and disruption, Rimbaud’s timeless words continue to inspire, provoke, and stir the souls of readers across generations. So, buckle up, literary enthusiasts! It's time to plunge into the turbulent waters of Rimbaud's extraordinary mind.

Quotes on Love and Passion

1. “I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.”

"I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still."
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2. “I'm now making myself as scummy as I can. Why? I want to be a poet.”

"I'm now making myself as scummy as I can. Why? I want to be a poet."
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3. “Love… is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”

"Love... is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
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4. “The only unbearable thing is that nothing is unbearable.”

"The only unbearable thing is that nothing is unbearable."
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5. “I is another.”

"I is another."
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6. “Genius is the recovery of childhood at will.”

"Genius is the recovery of childhood at will."
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7. “I am the saint at prayer on the terrace like the peaceful beasts that graze down to the sea of Palestine.”

"I am the saint at prayer on the terrace like the peaceful beasts that graze down to the sea of Palestine."
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8. “Life is the farce which everyone has to perform.”

"Life is the farce which everyone has to perform."
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9. “I believe that I am in hell, therefore I am there.”

"I believe that I am in hell, therefore I am there."
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10. “Romanticism has never been properly judged. Who was there to judge it? The critics!”

"Romanticism has never been properly judged. Who was there to judge it? The critics!"
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Quotes on Rebellion and Revolution

  1. “But, truly, I have wept too much! The Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.”
  2. “The poet makes himself a seer by a long, prodigious, and rational disordering of all the senses.”
  3. “I saw that all beings are fated to happiness: action is not life, but a way of wasting some force, an enervation. Morality is the weakness of the brain.”
  4. “The Poet is a kinsman in the clouds who scoffs at archers, loves a stormy day; but on the ground, among the hooting crowds, he cannot walk, his wings are in the way.”
  5. “I say that one must be a seer, make oneself a seer.”
  6. “By being too sensitive I have wasted my life.”
  7. “Eternity. It is the sea mingled with the sun.”
  8. “My wisdom is as spurned as chaos. What is my nothingness, compared to the amazement that awaits you?”
  9. “I will swallow a mouthful of poison to cleanse my soul of the leprosy of this happiness I feel.”
  10. “I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance.”

Reflections on Life

  1. “One must be absolutely modern.”
  2. “I’m a terrifying and unappealing guy. And you can tell it. I have an air of criminality about me, and it’s very charming.”
  3. “I believe I am in Hell, therefore I am.”
  4. “The Sun, the hearth of affection and life, pours burning love on the delighted earth.”
  5. “I reinvented the night, and I have seen what the darkness may drown.”
  6. “I managed to make every trace of human hope vanish from my mind. I pounced on every joy like a ferocious animal eager to strangle it.”
  7. “It is wrong to say: I think. One ought to say: I am thought.”
  8. “Now is the assassin's time.”
  9. “I have my own way of praying.”
  10. “Other horrible workers will come; they will begin at the horizons where the other one collapsed!”

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Rimbaud on Poetry

  1. “A thousand Dreams within me softly burn.”
  2. “For I have resolved to seek no other fame than that of being the most undistinguished of men.”
  3. “When the world is reduced to a single dark wood for our two pairs of dazzled eyes – to a beach for two faithful children – to a musical house for our clear understanding – then I will find you.”
  4. “I’m now making myself as scummy as I can. Why? I want to be a poet, and I’m working at turning myself into a seer.”
  5. “Poetry will no longer keep rhythm with action; it will be ahead of it.”
  6. “I am the man of the veil and the locked doors; the man of the beach and the coiled shell.”
  7. “One day, I will close your eyes.”
  8. “I created all the feasts, all the triumphs, all the dramas.”
  9. “O seasons, O châteaux, what soul is without defects?”
  10. “I have come to know all, and all at the same time.”

The Spirit of Rimbaud

  1. “I is someone else. If brass wakes up a trumpet, it's not its fault. That's obvious to me: I witness the unfolding of my own thought: I watch it, I hear it: I make a stroke with the bow: the symphony begins in the depths, or springs with a bound onto the stage.”
  2. “The first study for the man who wants to be a poet is knowledge of himself, complete: he searches for his soul, he inspects it, he tests it, he learns it. As soon as he has learned it, he must cultivate it!”
  3. “To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses, that's the point.”
  4. “One evening, I sat Beauty on my knees –And I found her bitter–And I reviled her.”
  5. “I am an animal, a nigger. The death penalty is the only thing that frightens me. Quick! Hurry up! Executioner, do your duty!”
  6. “But I am not a poet. It is quite wrong of me to go about saying I am one; and this confession would be drawn from me sooner or later, so I make it here frankly. I have never written a poem.”
  7. “I is someone else. So what if a piece of wood discovers it’s a violin…”
  8. “For I understand, and I feel this madness growing in me. This madness of dreaming in languages that do not exist.”
  9. “I am the slave of my baptism. Parents, you have caused my misfortune, and you have caused your own.”
  10. “Once, if my memory serves me well, my life was a banquet where every heart revealed itself, where every wine flowed.”

Dive into the complex mind of Rimbaud, and may these quotes inspire you to embrace the revolutionary spirit within you.

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