A cat will be your friend, but never your slave.
Theophile Gautier

Any man who does not have his inner world to translate is not an artist.
Theophile Gautier

Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution.
Theophile Gautier

Books follow morals, and not morals books.
Theophile Gautier

Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.
Theophile Gautier

Critical lice are like body lice, which desert corpses to seek the living.
Theophile Gautier

Eyes so transparent that through them the soul is seen.
Theophile Gautier

I am a man for whom the outside world exists.
Theophile Gautier

I am one of those for whom superfluity is a necessity.
Theophile Gautier

I was born to travel and write verse.
Theophile Gautier


If you are worthy of its affection, a cat will be your friend but never your slave.
Theophile Gautier

It is difficult to obtain the friendship of a cat. It is a philosophical animal... one that does not place its affections thoughtlessly.
Theophile Gautier

Sooner barbarity than boredom.
Theophile Gautier

The cat is a dilettante in fur.
Theophile Gautier

The word poet literally means maker: anything which is not well made doesn't exist.
Theophile Gautier

To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind.
Theophile Gautier

What I write is not for little girls.
Theophile Gautier

Yes, the work comes out more beautiful from a material that resists the process, verse, marble, onyx, or enamel.
Theophile Gautier

You do not become a critic until it has been completely established to your own satisfaction that you cannot be a poet.
Theophile Gautier