Paul Verlaine Quotes (1844-1896)

Poet

About Paul Verlaine

Paul-Marie Verlaine (March 30 1844 – January 8 1896) was a French Symbolist poet. He is often characterized as a poète maudit and an example of fin-de-siècle decadence in literature.

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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Paul Verlaine quotes.

“Pas la Couleur, rien que la nuance!”
“La lune blanche
Luit dans les bois;
De chaque branche
Part une voix
Sous la ramée.
”
“Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l'automne
Blessent mon cœur
D'une langueur
Monotone.
”
“Et je m'en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m'emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.
”
“C'est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi
Sans amour et sans haine
Mon cœur a tant de peine!
”

Paul Verlaine Quotes by Topic

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Paul Verlaine on Ramayana

“By Indra! how beautiful this is and how much better than the Bible, the Gospel and all the words of the Fathers of the Church!”
Paul Verlaine

Quotes About Paul Verlaine

Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Paul Verlaine from others.

Drunk from the Bitter Truth: The Poems of Anna Margolin on Paul Verlaine

“Anna Margolin was greatly influenced by Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Rimbaud; among the Germans, by Else Lasker-Schüler and Rainer Maria Rilke; and among the Yiddish poets, by Itsik Manger and Avrom Sutzkever.”

Anna Margolin "The Song of a Girl" poem on Paul Verlaine

“That time, that excitement, I will always remember,/like a song without words, like a poem by Verlaine.”

Oscar Wilde on Paul Verlaine

“Two of the most perfect lives I have come across in my own experience are the lives of Verlaine and of Prince Kropotkin: both of them men who have passed years in prison: the first, the one Christian poet since Dante; the other, a man with a soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia.”
Paul Verlaine

Vittorio Messori on Paul Verlaine

“Verlaine, the maudit poet, but with a strong religious torment that ended up prevailing, speaking of the love for Mary: «all other loves are orders». With similar words, he wanted to underline that "free" character of Marian devotion that the Church has always safeguarded. Over 20 centuries, only a few dogmas have been proclaimed about her di lei: which among other things, we know, are at the service and shelter of her di lei Son di lei, well before her di lei. Only to these defined truths does the Catholic owe homage. Everything else, regarding Mary, is left to the free sensitivity and initiative of the believer.”
Paul Verlaine

About Paul Verlaine

Paul-Marie Verlaine (March 30 1844 – January 8 1896) was a French Symbolist poet. He is often characterized as a poète maudit and an example of fin-de-siècle decadence in literature.