Remarks by Arthur Rimbaud | V2Melody Quotations

“I have never known anyone who was bored as much as I am.”

Original: Je n’ai même jamais connu personne qui s’ennuyât autant que moi. — The extreme claim makes boredom almost an existential condition rather than a temporary inconvenience. · Letter to his family from Aden, January 1885 (French)

“I have a horror of the homeland.”

Original: J’ai horreur de la patrie. — The provocative declaration rejects patriotism as a defining source of identity or obligation. · A Season in Hell, Bad Blood, 1873 (French)

“I am determined to leave Aden.”

Original: Je suis décidé à ne pas séjourner à Aden. — Even in practical correspondence, Rimbaud’s instinct to move on remains unmistakable. · Letter from Aden, 1880s (French)

“I have always had a strong neuralgia where my leg was amputated, that is, in the part that remains.”

Original: J’ai toujours une forte névralgie à la place de la jambe coupée, c’est-à-dire au morceau qui reste. — The clinical description is strikingly direct and reveals the physical reality of his final illness. · Letter to Isabelle Rimbaud, 17 June 1891 (French)

“The doctor says it will take me a month, and even afterwards I shall only be able to begin walking very slowly.”

Original: Le médecin dit que j’en aurai pour un mois, et même ensuite je ne pourrai commencer à marcher que très lentement. — Rimbaud describes his deteriorating condition with characteristic factual directness. · Letter to Isabelle Rimbaud, 17 June 1891 (French)

“I have not yet got out of bed.”

Original: Je ne suis pas encore descendu de mon lit. — The plain statement reflects the severe physical decline of Rimbaud’s final months. · Letter to Isabelle Rimbaud, 17 June 1891 (French)

“I would very much like to see you.”

Original: Hélas je voudrais bien te voir. — The simple expression reveals a rare moment of tenderness in Rimbaud’s late correspondence. · Letter to Isabelle Rimbaud, 17 June 1891 (French)

“Do not be so frightened; be patient too, take care of yourself, take courage.”

Original: Ne t’effraie pas tant, prends patience aussi, soigne-toi, prends courage. — Even while gravely ill himself, Rimbaud offers his sister practical encouragement and courage. · Letter to Isabelle Rimbaud, 17 June 1891 (French)

“I do not know how this will end. In any case, I am resigned to everything; I have no luck.”

Original: Je ne sais pas comment cela finira. Enfin je suis résigné à tout, je n’ai pas de chance! — Near the end of his life, Rimbaud combines resignation with a blunt sense of personal misfortune. · Letter to Isabelle Rimbaud, 17 June 1891 (French)

“It is unnecessary to tell you what horrible suffering I endured on the way.”

Original: Inutile de vous dire quelles horribles souffrances j’ai subies en route. — Rimbaud’s understated phrasing makes the severity of his final journey especially striking. · Letter from Harar to Zeilah, 1891 (French)

“I cannot make a step outside my stretcher; my knee swelled before my eyes and the pain kept increasing.”

Original: Je n’ai jamais pu faire un pas hors de ma civière, mon genou gonflait à vue d’œil et la douleur augmentait continuellement. — The stark account records Rimbaud’s endurance during his final, agonising journey from the interior to the coast. · Letter describing the journey from Harar to Zeilah, 1891 (French)

“I shall never get what I want in these countries.”

Original: Je n’arriverai jamais à ce que je voudrais, dans ces pays. — Rimbaud’s practical ambitions remain frustrated by the conditions of expatriate commercial life. · Letter from Aden, 15 January 1885 (French)

“I do not arrive at what I would like in these countries.”

Original: Je n’arriverai jamais à ce que je voudrais, dans ces pays. — The remark conveys a persistent sense of thwarted ambition despite years of effort abroad. · Letter from Aden, 15 January 1885 (French)

“I cannot enjoy my earnings.”

Original: Je ne puis jouir de mon gain. — Rimbaud recognises that relentless work has deprived him of the very leisure his earnings should have provided. · Letter from Aden, 1884 (French)

“I cannot remain a day without work.”

Original: Je ne puis rester un jour sans travail. — The concise statement captures the restless work ethic that marked Rimbaud’s later life. · Letter from Aden, 1884 (French)

“I always need books, as well as other books.”

Original: J’en ai toujours besoin, ainsi que d’autres livres. — His continuing appetite for books complicates the familiar story of his complete indifference to literature after 1875. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“The books have not reached me because, I am sure, someone appropriated them in my place.”

Original: Les livres ne me sont pas parvenus, parce que, j’en suis sûr, quelqu’un se les sera appropriés à ma place. — Books remained important practical possessions even after Rimbaud had abandoned his literary career. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“I would only like it to be sixty degrees, as when I was staying at Massawa.”

Original: Je voudrais seulement qu’il y ait 60 degrés, comme quand je restais à Massaoua! — The exaggeration conveys Rimbaud’s toughness and his sardonic attitude towards the extreme climate. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“Here too, there is a great deal to do.”

Original: Ici aussi, d’ailleurs, il y a beaucoup à faire. — Rimbaud evaluates places primarily through the possibilities they offer for activity and work. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“I would go to Zanzibar, where there is work to be done.”

Original: J’irais probablement à Zanzibar, où il y a à faire. — Movement remains Rimbaud’s instinctive response to dissatisfaction and the search for opportunity. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“I have forty degrees of heat here; at home we sweat litres of water every day.”

Original: J’ai 40 degrés de chaleur ici, à la maison: on sue des litres d’eau par jour ici. — The blunt description conveys the physical extremes of the climate in which Rimbaud was living. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“Aden is, as everyone admits, the most boring place in the world, after the one where you live.”

Original: Aden qui est, tout le monde le reconnaît, le lieu le plus ennuyeux du monde, après toutefois celui que vous habitez. — Rimbaud turns his frustration with Aden into a characteristically dry joke at his family’s expense. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“I have about two hundred francs in my pocket.”

Original: J’ai d’ailleurs déjà environ 200 francs en poche. — The mundane detail offers a glimpse of the practical, money-conscious voice of the adult Rimbaud. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

“The thing is very easy.”

Original: La chose est très facile. — Rimbaud’s confidence in the feasibility of his plans contrasts with the uncertainty surrounding his later life. · Letter to his family from Aden, 18 January 1882 (French)

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