Octavio Paz

The idea of modernity is beginning to lose its vitality. It is losing it because modernity is no longer a critical attitude but an accepted, codified convention.

The sound of water is worth more than all the poets' words.

Self-discovery is above all the realization that we are alone: it is the opening of an impalpable, transparent wall - that of our consciousness - between the world and ourselves.

Despite the impression you may have from watching too much TV, movies are not about reproducing reality. They're about telling stories.

Well, I actually wrote her a letter a couple of days ago congratulating her. The tone I tried to convey in the letter is, look, you are a part of a great American historical process.

Strictly speaking, the idea of a scientific poem is probably as nonsensical as that of a poetic science.