Remarks by Manuel Machado | V2Melody Quotations

“I myself, Andalusian, Sevillian to the marrow—from there I come, and my parents and grandparents before me—sing my own feelings in the style of my land, with no aim but to ease them or exalt them, as they pain or please me.”

Original: Yo mismo, andaluz, sevillano hasta la médula (de allí soy, de allí mis padres y mis abuelos), canto al estilo de mi tierra los sentimientos propios, sin otra idea que la de aliviarlos o exaltarlos, según me duelen o me complacen. — Explains his adoption of the Andalusian copla as a vehicle for direct personal feeling rather than folkloric imitation · Preface to Cante hondo, 1912 (Spanish)

“My earliest memory is of myself, aged a year and a half or two, in my grandparents' courtyard in Seville, playing with a lovely, utterly gentle Angora cat that retreats from my caresses onto a stool upholstered in black gutta-percha, barely within reach of my mischievous little hands.”

Original: La primera imagen mía que yo conservo en la memoria me representa de edad de año y medio o dos años en el patio de la casa de mis abuelos, en Sevilla, jugando con una preciosa—y mansísima—gata de Angora, que se refugia de mis caricias sobre una banqueta forrada de gutapercha negra, a la que apenas alcanzo con mis manecillas revoltosas. — The opening of his academy address, tracing his… · Unos versos, un alma y una época, RAE induction speech, 1938 (Spanish)

“Never had people written worse in Spain than they did ten years ago.”

Original: Nunca se había escrito peor en España que hace diez años. — A deliberately severe judgement on the literary style preceding modernism · Survey on Modernism, El Nuevo Mercurio, 1907 (Spanish)

“I do not know what unfortunate obsession drove me at that time to bare my soul before the public's consideration, or disregard, which was more likely.”

Original: No sé qué infausta monomanía me acuciaba en aquella época a desnudar mi alma ante la pública consideración o desconsideración, que era más probable. — Looking back ruefully on the exposure of private experience in his earlier writing · Academy address, Semi-poesía y posibilidad, 1938 (Spanish)

“I call my verses only semi-poetry, and my realities, subject to the laws of ordinary mortal life, I dare call nothing more than possibility.”

Original: Yo no llamo a mis versos sino semi-poesía, y a mis realidades, que obedecen a la ley de vida de los simples mortales, no oso llamar otra cosa que posibilidad. — Characterising his work with modesty and an awareness of human limitation · Academy address, Semi-poesía y posibilidad, 1938 (Spanish)

“My source of inspiration is reality. But an integral reality: the outer world and the inner world, what is seen and what is imagined.”

Original: Mi fuente de inspiración es la realidad. Pero una realidad integral del mundo exterior y del mundo interior. De lo visto y lo imaginado. — Defining inspiration as a union of observation and imagination · Confesiones literarias, Cuadernos de Poesía, 1941 (Spanish)

“Aesthetic theories have always been made from works of art, never the other way round.”

Original: Las estéticas se han hecho siempre sobre las obras de arte, y nunca viceversa. — Arguing that artistic theory should arise from artworks rather than dictate them · Article, Los jóvenes del Ultra, 1919 (Spanish)

“To write poems in order to justify an aesthetic theory, however good it may be, is completely absurd and monstrous.”

Original: Escribir poemas para justificar una teoría estética, por buena que sea, es completamente absurdo y monstruoso. — Insisting that poems should not be manufactured merely to prove theories · Article, Los jóvenes del Ultra, 1919 (Spanish)

“To band together, unite or form groups in order to write verse or produce any kind of art is absurd, disagreeable and dangerous to the development of personality.”

Original: Agregarse, unirse, agruparse para escribir versos o producir cualquier género de arte es absurdo, antipático y peligroso para el desarrollo de la personalidad. — Warning that artistic movements can suppress individual creative identity · Article, Los jóvenes del Ultra, 1919 (Spanish)

“I see no path for the artist other than to cultivate his personality with the utmost care and improve it without cease.”

Original: Yo no veo más camino para el artista que el de cultivar con todo empeño su personalidad y mejorarla sin cesar. — Making continual personal development central to artistic practice · Response to survey, ¿Qué es el Arte? ¿Qué debemos hacer?, 1920 (Spanish)

“Art is something universal, or, if you prefer, individual, which in the end is the best form of universality.”

Original: El arte es cosa universal o si queréis individual, que al cabo es la mejor forma de universalidad. — Suggesting that genuine individuality is itself a path towards universality · Article, El modernismo y la ropa vieja, 1901 (Spanish)

“Art is not a matter of rhetoric, nor even of literature, but of personality.”

Original: El arte no es cosa de retórica ni aun de literatura, sino de personalidad. — Locating the essential source of art in the individual creator · Lecture, Los poetas de hoy (Spanish)

“But old things too have their pleasure, their special magic, a delicate and subtle charm across time.”

Original: Pero hay en las cosas antiguas también su agrado, su magia especial, un encanto delicado y fino a través del tiempo. — Affirming that old things possess a beauty distinct from novelty · Essay, Por la capa, in La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“The ultra-modern undoubtedly has the charm and freshness of youth, a powerful charm.”

Original: Tiene sin duda lo modernísimo el encanto y la frescura de lo joven, un encanto fuerte. — Acknowledging the distinctive attraction of novelty and youth · Essay, Por la capa, in La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“I do not object to the new; after all, it too will grow old, such is the sadness of life.”

Original: No protesto de lo nuevo, que, al cabo, se hará viejo también, pena de la vida. — Viewing novelty and tradition as stages within the same passage of time · Essay, Por la capa, in La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“One must live, and it is good to see the world, since there is nothing else to chase.”

Original: Preciso es vivir, y bueno está correr mundo, ya que no hay otra cosa que correr. — Encouraging engagement with life and the wider world · Letter to Juan Ramón Jiménez, Autocrítica (Spanish)

“The senses and the heart, if they are not exercised, atrophy and languish.”

Original: Los sentidos y el corazón que no se ejercen, se atrofian y languidecen. — Arguing that feeling and perception must be exercised through life · Letter to Juan Ramón Jiménez, Autocrítica (Spanish)

“The sight of a single thing, however beautiful it may be, eventually becomes a nightmare.”

Original: La vista de una sola cosa, por bella que sea, acaba por devenir una pesadilla. — Recognising the need for experience beyond even the most beautiful retreat · Letter to Juan Ramón Jiménez, Autocrítica (Spanish)

“I shall go on committing Gallicisms whenever they suit me, if they make me more expressive and clear.”

Original: Seguiré cometiendo galicismos siempre que me acomode para ser más expresivo y claro. — Putting clarity and expressive power before strict linguistic convention · Preface, La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“I am no purist, nor can I understand how anyone can amuse themselves with that.”

Original: No me pago de purista, ni comprendo cómo hay quien se entretiene en eso. — Rejecting linguistic purity when it obstructs living expression · Preface, La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“To say plainly what one thinks or feels about things is, for certain temperaments, a necessity.”

Original: Decir buenamente lo que se piensa o se siente de las cosas, es para ciertos temperamentos una necesidad. — Presenting expression as an inward necessity rather than a literary pose · Preface, La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“I cannot understand how it is possible to talk so much in order to say something.”

Original: No concibo cómo para decir algo sea posible hablar tanto. — Praising economy and directness in expression · Preface, La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“So if I did not contradict myself, I would be contradicting myself.”

Original: De modo que si no me contradijese estaría en contradicción conmigo mismo. — A witty defence of a naturally changeable character · Preface, La guerra literaria (Spanish)

“Always thinking the same thing seems to me contrary to everything natural, and a sign of extreme poverty of spirit.”

Original: Eso de pensar siempre lo mismo me parece contra todo lo natural y de una pobreza de espíritu extremadísima. — Rejecting rigid consistency as a failure of intellectual growth · Preface, La guerra literaria (Spanish)

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