Paul Valéry — a remark

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“It is impossible to say to the World, to the Body: I want nothing from you, but want nothing from me either.”

Original: Il est impossible de dire au Monde, au Corps: je ne veux rien de toi, mais ne veuille rien de moi. — The remark stresses the unavoidable reciprocal demands made by existence and embodiment. · Tel quel (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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