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37 Notable Quotes By Octavio Paz

Famous As: Writer, Poet, Diplomat and Noble Prize Laureate
Born On: 1914
Died On: 1998
Born In: Mexico City, Mexico
Founder / Co Founder: Vuelta, Taller (
Died At Age: 84
Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican diplomat, poet and writer, who lived in the 20th century and is regarded as one of the greatest literary figures of the modern era. Paz got acquainted with the giants of literature thanks to his grandfather’s extensive library. His earliest influences include giants of Spanish literature like Juan Roman Jimenez, Gerardo Diego and Antonio Machado. He became a published poet by the time he was a teenager and his first collection of poems titled ‘Wild Moon’ was published when he was only 19 years old. He was also influenced by the great American poet T. S. Elliot and wrote about the hardships of the peasants in Mexico in the poem ‘Between the Stone and The Flower’. Some of his noted poetry collections include ‘Sunstone’, ‘Blanco’, ‘Salamandra’, ‘Vuelta’, ‘Poemas’, ‘Arbol Adentro’, ‘Airborn’ and ‘La Estracion Violenta’ among others. His work has been translated into several languages all over the world. He remains one of the most influential poets in the modern era. Due to his stellar body of work, Paz was awarded the ‘Nobel Prize in Literature’ in 1990 and the ‘Miguel de Cervantes Prize’ in 1981. Below are some of his most well-known and profound quotes and sayings by Octavio Paz which have been excerpted from his books, novels, poems, writings and work. Read on the quotes by Octavio Paz that will keep you high-spirited.
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Deserve your dream.

Deserve your dream.

Octavio Paz
Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.

Octavio Paz
Love is an attempt to penetrate another being, but it can only be realized if the surrender is mutual.

Love is an attempt to penetrate another being, but it can only be realized if the surrender is mutual.

Octavio Paz
Beyond myself, somewhere, 
I wait for my arrival.

Beyond myself, somewhere, I wait for my arrival.

Octavio Paz
I don't believe that there are dangerous writers: the danger of certain books is not in the books themselves but in the passions of their readers.

I don't believe that there are dangerous writers: the danger of certain books is not in the books themselves but in the passions of their readers.

Octavio Paz
No one behind, no one ahead.
The path the ancients cleared has closed.
And the other path, everyone's path,
easy and wide, goes nowhere.
I am alone and find my way.

No one behind, no one ahead. The path the ancients cleared has closed. And the other path, everyone's path, easy and wide, goes nowhere. I am alone and find my way.

Octavio Paz
Self-discovery is above all the realization that we are alone.

Self-discovery is above all the realization that we are alone.

Octavio Paz
...que busca? Tal vez busca su destino. Tal vez su destino es buscar.

...what is he searching for? Perhaps he searches for his destiny. Perhaps his destiny is to search.

...que busca? Tal vez busca su destino. Tal vez su destino es buscar. ...what is he searching for? Perhaps he searches for his destiny. Perhaps his destiny is to search.

Octavio Paz
To love is to undress our names.

To love is to undress our names.

Octavio Paz
A human being is never what he is but the self he seeks.

A human being is never what he is but the self he seeks.

Octavio Paz
Las masas humanas más peligrosas son aquellas en cuyas venas ha sido inyectado el veneno del miedo… del miedo al cambio

Las masas humanas más peligrosas son aquellas en cuyas venas ha sido inyectado el veneno del miedo… del miedo al cambio

Octavio Paz
When we learn to speak, we learn to translate.

When we learn to speak, we learn to translate.

Octavio Paz
Si las revoluciones no se hacen con palabras, las ideas no se implantan con decretos.

Si las revoluciones no se hacen con palabras, las ideas no se implantan con decretos.

Octavio Paz
Without democracy freedom is a chimera

Without democracy freedom is a chimera

Octavio Paz
Love is the revelation of the other person's freedom.

Love is the revelation of the other person's freedom.

Octavio Paz
My body, plowed by your body, will turn into a field where one is sown and a hundred reaped.

My body, plowed by your body, will turn into a field where one is sown and a hundred reaped.

Octavio Paz
Two bodies face to face
Are at times two waves 
And the night is an ocean.

Two bodies face to face
Are sometimes two stones
And the night a desert.

Two bodies face to face Are at times two waves And the night is an ocean. Two bodies face to face Are sometimes two stones And the night a desert.

Octavio Paz
Bodies are visible hieroglyphs. Every body is an erotic metaphor, and the meaning of all these metaphors is always the same: death.

Bodies are visible hieroglyphs. Every body is an erotic metaphor, and the meaning of all these metaphors is always the same: death.

Octavio Paz
When a society decays, it is language that is first to become gangrenous. As a result, social criticism begins with grammar and the re-establishing of meanings

When a society decays, it is language that is first to become gangrenous. As a result, social criticism begins with grammar and the re-establishing of meanings

Octavio Paz
Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.

Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.

Octavio Paz
Everything is language.

Everything is language.

Octavio Paz
Al entrar en ti mismo no sales del mundo

Al entrar en ti mismo no sales del mundo

Octavio Paz
Life is other, always there,
further off, beyond you and
beyond me, always on the horizon,
life which unlives us and makes us strangers,
that invents our face and wears it away

Life is other, always there, further off, beyond you and beyond me, always on the horizon, life which unlives us and makes us strangers, that invents our face and wears it away

Octavio Paz
There can be no society without poetry, but society can never be realized as poetry, it is never poetic. Sometimes the two terms seek to break apart. They cannot.

There can be no society without poetry, but society can never be realized as poetry, it is never poetic. Sometimes the two terms seek to break apart. They cannot.

Octavio Paz
To become aware of our history is to become aware of our singularity.

To become aware of our history is to become aware of our singularity.

Octavio Paz
I went to the little window and inhaled the country air. One could hear the breathing of the night, feminine, enormous.

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I went to the little window and inhaled the country air. One could hear the breathing of the night, feminine, enormous. ("The Blue Bouquet")

Octavio Paz
I do not condemn the cult of pleasure; I lament the general vulgarity.

I do not condemn the cult of pleasure; I lament the general vulgarity.

Octavio Paz
I went to the little window and inhaled the country air. One could hear the breathing of the night, feminine, enormous.

I went to the little window and inhaled the country air. One could hear the breathing of the night, feminine, enormous.

Octavio Paz
Der Triumph der Prinzipien über Instinkte

Der Triumph der Prinzipien über Instinkte

Octavio Paz
Die ewige Gegenwart der Götter

Die ewige Gegenwart der Götter

Octavio Paz