To the poet fated to be a poet, self-expression is as natural and as involuntary as breathing is to us ordinary mortals. Octavio Paz breatheexpressionfate Change image and share on social
The world stretches before me, the vast world of the big, the little, and the medium. Octavio Paz bigmediumstretch Change image and share on social
The modern tradition is the tradition of revolt. The French Revolution is still our model today: history is violent change, and this change goes by the name of progress. I do not know whether these notions really apply to art. Octavio Paz applyartchange share on social
An unread author is an author who is a victim of the worst kind of censorship, indifference - a censorship more effective than the Ecclesiastical Index. Octavio Paz authorbadcensorship Change image and share on social
Poems - crystallizations of the universal play of analogy, transparent objects which, as they reproduce the mechanism and the rotary motion of analogy, are waterspouts of new analogies. Octavio Paz analogycrystallizationmechanism Change image and share on social
Walt Whitman is the only great modern poet who does not seem to experience discord when he faces his world. Not even solitude - his monologue is a universal chorus. Octavio Paz chorusdiscordexperience Change image and share on social
The object of poetic activity is essentially language: whatever his beliefs and convictions, the poet is more concerned with words than with what these words designate. Octavio Paz activitybeliefconcern Change image and share on social
For the Chinese, the Greeks, the Mayans, or the Egyptians, nature was a living totality, a creative being. For this reason, art, according to Aristotle, is imitation; the poet imitates the creative gesture of nature. Octavio Paz aristotleartchinese share on social
If contemporary artists sincerely seek to be original, unique, and new, they should begin by disregarding the notions of originality, individuality, and innovation: they are the cliches of our time. Octavio Paz artistbegincliche Change image and share on social
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. Octavio Paz acceptattitudebegin Change image and share on social
