Paul Valéry — a remark

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“What a lot one has to ignore in order to act”

Original: Que de choses il faut ignorer pour agir! — A witty reflection on the tension between knowledge and decisive action. · Choses tues, 1930 (French)

About Paul Valéry

Paul Valéry

30 October 1871–20 July 1945

In the autumn of 1871, as France was still reeling from the trauma of the Franco-Prussian War and the violent suppression of the Paris Commune, a child was born in the Mediterranean port town of Sète who would become one of the twentieth century's most formidable literary intellects. Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules…

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