“There is a value called “mind” as there is a value oil, wheat, or gold. … One can invest in that value, one can “follow” it as they say on the stock exchange; one can watch its fluctuations in I know not what price list which is the world’s general opinion of it. … All these rising and falling values constitute the great market of human affairs. And of these the unfortunate value mind does not stop falling.”

—  Paul Valéry

Source: Regards sur le monde actuel [Reflections on the World Today] (1931), p. 161

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Paul Valéry photo
Paul Valéry 89
French poet, essayist, and philosopher 1871–1945

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