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Octavio Paz Quotes

Poet

Octavio Paz (March 31, 1914 - April 19, 1998) was a renowned Mexican poet, essayist, and diplomat. He is considered one of the greatest Spanish-language poets of the 20th century, known for his unique poetic style and profound intellectual depth.

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Famous Octavio Paz Quotes

“There can be no society without poetry, but society can never be realized as poetry, it is never poetic. Sometimes the two terms seek to break apart. They cannot.”

Two Sometimes Term Break Poetic

Author:Octavio Paz

“The world is born when two people kiss”

People World Two Born Kissing

Book:The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987

Source: The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987

“Two opposing forces inhabit the poem: one of elevation or up-rooting, which pulls the word from the language: the other of gravity, which makes it return. The poem is an original and unique creation, but it is also reading and recitation: participation. The poet creates it; the people, by recitation, re-create it. Poet and reader are two moments of a single reality.”

Source: The Bow and the Lyre: The Poem, The Poetic Revelation, Poetry and History

“Because two bodies, naked and entwined, leap over time, they are invulnerable, nothing can touch them, they return to the source. There is no you, no I, no tomorrow, no yesterday, no names, the truth of two in a single body, a single soul, oh total being.”

Two Soul Body Names Source Return Tomorrow Yesterday Naked Leap Entwined

Book:The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987

Source: The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987

“Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two.”

Two Wisdom Lying Learning Training Organization Dialectics

Book:The Monkey Grammarian

Source: The Monkey Grammarian

“To love is to battle, to open doors, to cease to be a ghost with a number forever in chains, forever condemned by a faceless master; the world changes if two look at each other and see.”

Ifs World Love Looks Two Love Is Doors Battle

Author:Octavio Paz

“By diminishing the value of silence, publicity has also diminished that of language. The two are inseparable: knowing how to speak has always meant knowing how to keep silent, knowing that there are times when one should say nothing.”

Should Two Values Speak Language Silence Knowing Silent Publicity Inseparable

Book:Alternating Current

Source: Alternating Current

About the Author

Born: March 31, 1914
Died: April 19, 1998
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 171

Books & Sources

Alternating CurrentRelated source material

The Double Flame: Love and EroticismRelated source material

The Labyrinth of Solitude: And the Other Mexico ; Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude ; Mexico and the United States ; The Philanthropic OgreRelated source material

Selected poemsRelated source material

The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other WritingsRelated source material

The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987Related source material

Sombras De ObrasRelated source material

Освящение мигаRelated source material

1904-1912Related source material

A Draft of Shadows and Other PoemsRelated source material

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