Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano; March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. He is considered by many as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets of all time...
NationalityMexican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth31 March 1914
CityMexico City, Mexico
CountryMexico
cannot man meaning touches
Words are things, but things which mean. We cannot do away with meaning without doing away with signs, that is, with language itself. Moreover, we would have to do away with the universe. All the things man touches are impregnated with meaning.
aesthetic agent change meaning modern tastes
Changes in our aesthetic tastes have no value or meaning in and of themselves; what has value and meaning is the idea of change itself. Or, better stated: not change in and of itself, but change as an agent or inspiration of modern creations.
abstract attempts essential forms meanings pictorial pure seeks shared signs thus
Abstract painting seeks to be a pure pictorial language, and thus attempts to escape the essential impurity of all languages: the recourse to signs or forms that have meanings shared by everyone.
applies delay duchamp dynamic means notion suggest
Futurists wanted to suggest movement by means of a dynamic painting; Duchamp applies the notion of delay - or, rather, or analysis - to movement.
great means painter transcends
To be a great painter means to be a great poet: someone who transcends the limits of his language.
mean names
Loving means getting rid of names.
caresses familiar favorite jokes sleeps toys
The Mexican, in contrast, is familiar with death. (He) jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it. It is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love.
courts favorite hugs lasting plaything sleeps
...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love.
easily mexican shuns therefore
The Mexican succumbs very easily to sentimental effusions, and therefore he shuns them.
among beings condemned contain discover form metaphors paradoxes unite unless wit
Wit invents; inspiration reveals. The inventions of wit are conceits - metaphors and paradoxes - that discover the secret correspondences that unite beings and things among and with themselves; inspiration is condemned to dissipate its revelations - unless a form can be found to contain them.
across cultural distant indian pure time
We twentieth-century Mexicans, even those of pure Indian descent, look on the pre-Columbian world as a world on the other side, not only distant in time but across the cultural divide.
century favor freedom man
For a man of my generation, our century has been a long intellectual and political struggle in favor of freedom.
areas discovered discovery invention lies novel unfamiliar unknown value work worlds
To us, the value of a work lies in its newness: the invention of new forms, or a novel combination of old forms, the discovery of unknown worlds or the exploration of unfamiliar areas in worlds already discovered - revelations, surprises.
historical history image mexico period plateau separated surrounded tall truth
The truth is that the history of Mexico is a history in the image of its geography: abrupt and tortuous. Each historical period is like a plateau surrounded by tall mountains and separated from the other plateaus by precipices and divides.