Guillaume Apollinaire > Quotes

“Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“How slow life is, how violent hope is.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, We will fall!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Joy came always after pain.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Come to the edge," he said.
They said, "We are afraid."
Come to the edge," he said.
They came.
He pushed them...and they flew.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Without poets, without artists... everything would fall apart into chaos. There would be no more seasons, no more civilizations, no more thought, no more humanity, no more life even; and impotent darkness would reign forever. Poets and artists together determine the features of their age, and the future meekly conforms to their edit.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, Selected Writings

“Now you are walking in Paris all alone in the crowd

As herds of bellowing buses drive by

Love's anguish tightens your throat

As if you were never to be loved again

If you lived in the old days you would enter a monastery

You are ashamed when you discover yourself reciting a prayer

You make fun of yourself and like the fire of Hell your laughter crackles

The sparks of your laugh gild the depths of your life

It's a painting hanging in a dark museum

And sometimes you go and look at it close up”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, Zone

“When man resolved to imitate walking, he invented the wheel, which does not look like a leg. In doing this, he was practicing surrealism without knowing it.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“I sing the joy of wandering and the pleasure of the wanderer's death”
― Apollinaire

“People quickly grow accustomed to being the slaves of mystery.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, The Cubist Painters

“Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
Et nos amours
Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Les mains dans les mains restons face à face
Tandis que sous
Le pont de nos bras passe
des éternels regards l'onde si lasse

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

l'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante
L'amour s'en va
Comme la vie est lente
Et comme l'Espérance est violente

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Passent les jours et passent les semaines
Ni temps passé
Ni les amours reviennent
Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, Alcools

“Sea, I am like you, filled with broken voices,”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“All the words I have to say have turned into stars.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“And God said come to the edge." "I can't. I’m afraid." "Come to the edge." "I can't. I’ll fall" "Come to the edge." I went to the edge and God pushed me…….and I flew.”
― Apollinaire

“Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
Et nos amours
Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine
Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“I love men, not for what unites them, but for what divides them, and I want to know most of all what gnaws at their hearts.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature's monotony. The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed. The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art, would at once vanish. Everything would break up in chaos. There would be no seasons, no civilization, no thought, no humanity; even life would give way, and the impotent void would reign everywhere.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Come to the edge,' he said. 'We are afraid,' they said. 'Come to the edge, he said,' and slowly, reluctantly, they came. He pushed them and they flew.”
― Guillaume Appolinaire

“I had the courage to look backward
The ghosts of my days”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“It's raining my soul, it's raining, but it's raining dead eyes.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Να χάσεις
Μα να χάσεις αμετάκλητα”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure / Les jours s'en vont je demeure.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“In this mirror,
I am enclosed a live and real as you.
Imagine angels and not like the reflections.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“J'ai cueilli ce brin de bruyère
L'automne est morte souviens-t'en
Nous ne nous verrons plus sur terre
Odeur du temps brin de bruyère
Et souviens-toi que je t'attends”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, Alcools

“Le Chat

Je souhaite dans ma maison:
Une femme ayant sa raison.
Un chat passant parmi les livres.
Des amis en toute saison
Sans lesquels je ne peux pas vivre.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, Alcools

“نحن الطالبين فى كل مكان غمار الافق
لسنا بأعداء لكم
نريد أن نمنحكم كل الرحاب الغريبة
حيث يزدهر السر الخفى ويبيح نفسه
لمن أراد إجتناءه
هناك أوقدت نار جديدة
وتراءت ألوان لم تبصرها عين
وأومأت خيالات شفافة
تريد أن تتجسد
فرحمة بنا ........
رحمة بالمكافحين أبدا
على مشارف اللانهائية والمستقبل”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“Automn ill and adored
You die when the hurricane blows in the roseries
When it has snowed
In the orchard trees

Poor automn
Dead in whiteness and riches
Of snow and ripe fruits
Deep in the sky
The sparrow hawks cry
Over the sprites with green hair dwarfs
Who've never been loved

Inthe far tree-lines
The stags are groaning

And how I love O season how I love your rumbling
The falling fruits that no one gathers
The wind in the forest that are tumbling
All their tears in automn leaf by leaf
The leaves
You press
A crowd
That flows
The life
That goes”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“The domain of the imagination is reality.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire

“C'était et je voudrais ne pas m'en souvenir c'était au déclin de la beauté...”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, Alcools et calligrammes

“Six mirrors keep staring at one another

("Monday rue Christine")”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, The Cubist Poets in Paris: An Anthology