"Gentlemen, in the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of Champagne."

#PaulClaudel #BOTD 1868

Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Claudel was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in six different years.

Paul Claudel, age sixteen, by his sister, Camille Claudel, modeled in 1884 and cast in 1893

"When man tries to imagine Paradise on earth, the immediate result is a very respectable Hell."
~ Paul Claudel

"In a word, poetry can not exist without emotion, or, if you will, without a movement of the soul which regulates the words."
~ Paul Claudel

"Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or remove it. He came to fill it with His Presence."
~ Paul Claudel

"Speak about Christ only when you are asked. But live so that people ask about Christ!"
~ Paul Claudel

"Truth has nothing to do with the number of people it convinces." ~ Paul Claudel

"Intelligence is nothing without delight."
~ Paul Claudel

"Now I know that at the heart of the universe is joy."
~ Paul Claudel

"Time: all things consume it, love alone makes use of it."
~ Paul Claudel

"All that passes is raised to the dignity of expression; all that happens is raised to the dignity of meaning. Everything is either symbol or parable."
~ Paul Claudel

"Eighty years old! No eyes left, no ears, no teeth, no legs, no wind! And when all is said and done, how astonishingly well one does without them."
~ Paul Claudel

"You explain nothing, O poet, but thanks to you all things become explicable."
~ Paul Claudel

"Art imitates nature not in its effects as such, but in its causes, in its 'manner,' in its process, which are nothing but a participation in and a derivation of actual objects, of the Art of God himself."
~ Paul Claudel

"The priest has just baptized you a Christian with water; and I baptize you a Frenchman, daring child, with a dewdrop of champagne on your lips."
~ Paul Claudel

"Open your eyes! The world is still intact; it is as pristine as it was on the first day, as fresh as milk!"
~ Paul Claudel

"The words I use
Are everyday words and yet are not the same!
You will find no rhymes in my verse, no magic.
There are your very own phrases."
~ Paul Claudel