Quotes from Gerard de Nerval

Every flower is a soul blossoming in Nature.

Nothing is indifferent, nothing is powerless in the universe; an atom might destroy everything, an atom might save everything!

Our dreams are a second life. I have never been able to penetrate without a shudder those ivory or horned gates which separate us from the invisible world.

When the soul drifts uncertainly between life and the dream, between the mind's disorder and the return to cool reflection, it is in religious thought that we should seek consolation.

Our dreams are a second life.

The tree of knowledge is not the tree of life! And yet can we cast out of our spirits all the good or evil poured into them by so many learned generations? Ignorance cannot be learned.

The first moments of sleep are an image of death; a hazy torpor grips our thoughts and it becomes impossible for us to determine the exact instant when the 'I,' under another form, continues the task of existence.

I am the somber one, the unconsoled widower,The Prince of Aquitaine whose tower was destroyed.My only star is dead, and my star-studded luteWears the black sun of Melancholy.

Our dreams are a second life. I have never been able to penetrate without a shudder those ivory or horned gates which separate us from the invisible world.

Dream is a second life. I have never been able to cross through those gates of ivory or horn which separate us from the invisible world without a sense of dread.

The jailer is another kind of captive—is the jailer envious of his prisoner's dreams?

The tree of knowledge is not the tree of life! And yet can we cast out of our spirits all the good or evil poured into them by so many learned generations? Ignorance cannot be learned.

In what way is a lobster more ridiculous than a dog, a cat, a gazelle, a lion, or any other animal you take for a walk? I'm fond of lobsters. They're peaceful, serious, know the secrets of the deep, don't bark, and don't invade our privacy like dogs.

For those who have no faith in immortality, its joys and sorrows, certain fatal situations can result in despair and suicide.

When the soul drifts uncertainly between life and the dream, between the mind's disorder and the return to cool reflection, it is in religious thought that we should seek consolation.

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.

l'imagination m'apportait des délices infinies. En recouvrant ce que les hommes appellent la raison, faudra-t-il regretter de les avoir perdues...? My imagination gave me infinite delight. In recovering what men call reason, do I have to regret the loss of these joys?...

It is impossible for a Parisian to resist the desire to flick through the old volumes laid out by a bookseller. [ Il est impossible, pour un Parisien, de résister au désir de feuilleter de vieux ouvrages étalés par un bouquiniste. ]

La mélancolie est une maladie qui consiste à voir les choses comme elles sont.

What is madness...to go on platonically loving a woman who will never love you.

Water drinkers perceive nothing but the crude and material appearance of things, while intoxication, on the contrary, dulls the eyes of the body and brightens those of the soul.

Moi ? C'est une image que je poursuis, rien de plus.

Everything is alive, everything is in motion, everything corresponds; the magnetic rays that emanate from me or from others flow directly through the infinite chain of creation whose transparent network is in continuous communication with the planets and the stars. A captive here on earth for the moment, I commune with the chorus of stars and they join in my sorrows and joys.

The first man who compared a woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile .