Remarks by Arthur Rimbaud | V2Melody Quotations

“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 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)

“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 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)

“It is a very good business.”

Original: C’est une très bonne affaire. — The brisk commercial phrase reveals the practical, entrepreneurial voice of Rimbaud’s later correspondence. · Letter to his family from Aden, 18 January 1882 (French)

“I could then finish this work and afterwards work at the expense of the Geographical Society.”

Original: Je pourrai achever cet ouvrage et travailler ensuite aux frais de la Société de Géographie. — Rimbaud hopes that geographical research will provide the means for further exploration. · Letter to Ernest Delahaye, 18 January 1882 (French)

“I need instruments for making maps, and I intend to buy them.”

Original: Il me manque des instruments pour la confection des cartes, et je me propose de les acheter. — The remark illustrates Rimbaud’s practical, methodical interest in exploration and cartography. · Letter to Ernest Delahaye, 18 January 1882 (French)

“I have explored these regions and spent a year there, employed by a French commercial house.”

Original: Je suis resté un an dans ces contrées, en emploi dans une maison de commerce française. — Rimbaud describes his African experience in the practical language of work and exploration rather than literary adventure. · Letter to Ernest Delahaye, 18 January 1882 (French)

“I am always in the same house, under the same conditions; only, I work much more and spend almost everything.”

Original: Je suis toujours dans la même maison, aux mêmes conditions; seulement, je travaille bien plus et je dépense presque tout. — The practical complaint reveals the exhausting economic reality behind Rimbaud’s life as a merchant. · Letter from Aden, 1880s (French)

“May the day come when I can escape slavery and have enough income to do only as much, and only what, I please.”

Original: Ah! qu’il arrive, le jour où je pourrai sortir de l’esclavage et avoir des rentes assez pour ne faire qu’autant et que ce qu’il me plaira! — Financial independence represents freedom from exhausting labour and the power to choose how to live. · Letter from Aden, 29 May 1884 (French)

“With my savings I could rest a little after long suffering; yet I cannot stay a day without working, nor can I enjoy my earnings.”

Original: Avec mes économies, je pourrais me reposer un peu après de longues souffrances; et non seulement je ne puis rester un jour sans travail, mais je ne puis jouir de mon gain. — Rimbaud describes the restless relationship between labour, money and the inability to enjoy what he has earned. · Letter from Aden, 1884 (French)

“I am not here to be happy.”

Original: Je ne suis pas venu ici pour être heureux. — The statement reflects Rimbaud’s austere view of expatriate life as work and survival rather than pleasure. · Letter to his family from Aden, 1880s (French)

“I have a horror of all professions.”

Original: J’ai horreur de tous les métiers. — Rimbaud rejects conventional occupation as an imposed social structure rather than a meaningful vocation. · A Season in Hell, Bad Blood, 1873 (French)

“I am working to make myself a seer.”

Original: Je travaille à me rendre Voyant. — Rimbaud presents poetic transformation as something requiring effort rather than simply inspiration. · Letter to Georges Izambard, 13 May 1871 (French)

“I shall be a worker… working now, never, never; I am on strike.”

Original: Je serai un travailleur… travailler maintenant, jamais, jamais; je suis en grève. — Rimbaud turns the language of labour and revolt against conventional poetic and social expectations. · Letter to Georges Izambard, 13 May 1871 (French)

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