“What is most beautiful is of necessity tyrannical.”

— Paul Valéry

Eupalinos quoted by Phaedrus, p. 86
Eupalinos ou l'architecte (1921)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What is most beautiful is of necessity tyrannical." by Paul Valéry?

Paul Valéry photo

Paul Valéry89

French poet, essayist, and philosopher 1871–1945

Related quotes

“Important lessons: look carefully; record what you see. Find a way to make beauty necessary; find a way to make necessity beautiful.”

Anne Michaels (1958) Poet and novelist

“What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

"Notes on 'Camp'" (1964), note 9, p. 279 http://books.google.com/books?id=e3qgRrVlEH4C&q=%22What+is+most+beautiful+in+virile+men+is+something+feminine+what+is+most+beautiful+in+feminine+women+is+something+masculine%22&pg=PA279#v=onepage; originally published in Partisan Review, Vol. 31 No. 4 http://books.google.com/books?id=qEwqAQAAMAAJ&q=%22What+is+most+beautiful+in+virile+men+is+something+feminine+what+is+most+beautiful+in+feminine+women+is+something+masculine%22&pg=PA519#v=onepage, ( Fall 1964 http://www.bu.edu/partisanreview/books/PR1964V31N4/HTML/#519/z) <br class="br">Against Interpretation and Other Essays (1966)

“The most tyrannical dictatorships the world has known have existed under the aegis of parliaments.”

Muammar Gaddafi book The Green Book

The Green Book (1975)
The Green Book (1975)

“Beautiful is what we see, More Beautiful is what we know, most Beautiful by far is what we don't.”

Nicolas Steno (1638–1686) Pioneer in anatomy and geology, bishop

quoted by Addison Anderson in a TED-Ed lesson. https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-most-groundbreaking-scientist-you-ve-never-heard-of-addison-anderson

“Luxury is not a necessity to me, but beautiful and good things are.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

“It was the passions about whose origin we deceived ourselves that tyrannized most strongly over us.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“That monarch does not have the right to commit wrongdoing, not even one ounce of it. He only has the right to lead and to the basic necessities of life, or a little more, not to do whatever he pleases or to tyrannize the people.”

Subh-i-Azal (1831–1912) Persian religious leader

Treatise on Kingship

“For what the most neglects, most curious prove,
So Beauty's helped by Nature, Heaven, and Love.”

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet

Canto II, stanza 18 (tr. Fairfax)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)

“The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests; and when not efficiently checked, it is the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be devised.”

John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) 7th Vice President of the United States

Speech to the U.S. Senate (15 February 1833)
1830s

“As any car freak will tell you, the old models are the most beautiful, even if they aren't the most efficient. People who sacrifice beauty for efficiency get what they deserve.”

Tom Robbins (1932) American writer

Related topics