Frases de Guillaume Apollinaire

„Acerquense al borde, les dijo. No podemos, tenemos miedo, contestaron. Acerquense al borde, repitio. Y se acercaron. Él los empujó… y levantaron vuelo.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„Cuando un hombre quiso imitar el andar, creó la rueda, que no se parece en nada a una pierna.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

Fuente: Rojas, Waldo. Cronología del movimiento surrealista: Síntesis comentada. Ediciones UC, 2012. ISBN 9789561412613. p. 34.

„Wikisource alberga textos de Guillaume Apollinaire.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„Geometry is to the plastic arts what grammar is to the art of the writer.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

La géométrie est aux arts plastiques ce que la grammaire est à l'art de l'écrivain.
Les peintres cubistes (1913), reprinted in Oeuvres en prose complètes (Paris: Gallimard, 1991) vol. 2, p. 11; translation from Lionel Abel (trans.) The Cubist Painters (New York: Wittenborn, 1949) p. 13.

„Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, We will fall!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came
And he pushed
And they flew.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

Christopher Logue's poem "Come to the Edge" from New Numbers (London: Cape, 1969) pp. 65-66. It was originally written for a poster advertising an Apollinaire exhibition at the ICA in 1961 or 1962, and was titled "Apollinaire Said"; hence it is often misattributed to Apollinaire (Source: Quote…Unquote Newsletter, July 1995, p. 2).
Misattributed

„How slow life is, how violent hope is.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

Commonly attributed, but source unknown. note: Uncertain

„Joy came always after pain.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„Come to the edge," he said.
They said, "We are afraid."
Come to the edge," he said.
They came.
He pushed them… and they flew.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„When man resolved to imitate walking, he invented the wheel, which does not look like a leg. In doing this, he was practicing surrealism without knowing it.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„People quickly grow accustomed to being the slaves of mystery.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

Fuente: The Cubist Painters

„We hurry since everything hurries
And I shall never not return
Memories are all archaic horns
Silenced by the wind.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire, libro Alcools

Passons passons puisque tout passe
Je me retournerai souvent
Les souvenirs sont cors de chasse
Dont meurt le bruit parmi le vent
"Cors de chasse" (Hunting Horns), line 9; translation from Donald Revell (trans.) Alcools (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1995) p. 159.
Alcools (1912)

„One day
One day I waited for myself
I said to myself Guillaume it's time you came
So I could know just who I am
I who know others“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire, libro Alcools

Un jour
Un jour je m'attendais moi-même
Je me disais Guillaume il est temps que tu viennes
Pour que je sache enfin celui-là que je suis
Moi qui connais les autres
"Cortège", line 19; translation from Roger Shattuck (trans.) Selected Writings of Guillaume Apollinaire (New York: New Directions, 1971) p. 75.
Alcools (1912)

„I've made a song for the poorly loved
And songs for everything I grieved –
For unaccompanied slave and shark,
For queens who've gone into the dark.“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire, libro Alcools

Moi qui sais des lais pour les reines
Les complaintes de mes années
Des hymnes d'esclave aux murènes
La romance du mal-aimé
Et des chansons pour les sirènes
"La Chanson du Mal-Aimé" (Song of the Poorly Loved), line 91; translation by William Meredith, from Francis Steegmuller Apollinaire: Poet Among the Painters (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973) p. 97.
Alcools (1912)

„And now comes the summer of violence
And my youth is as dead as the springtime
O Sun it is the time of fiery Reason“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire, libro Calligrammes

Voici que vient l'été la saison violente
Et ma jeunesse est morte ainsi que le printemps
Ô soleil c'est le temps de la raison ardente
"La jolie rousse" (The Pretty Redhead), line 31; p. 135.
Calligrammes (1918)

„O mouths humanity seeks a new language
Beyond the reach of grammarians“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire, libro Calligrammes

Ô bouches l'homme est a la recherche d'un nouveau langage
Auquel le grammairien d'aucune langue n'aura rien à dire
"Victoire" (Victory), line 21; p. 125.
Calligrammes (1918)

„The poems I am writing at the moment will be much closer to your present way of thinking. I am trying to renew poetic style, but within a classical framework. On the other hand, I don't want to lapse into imitating others. Letter to Picasso 1918“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire

„O pretty ship, my memory
Isn't this far enough to sea,
And the sea not fit to drink?
Haven't we drifted far and lost
From fair dawn to dreary dusk?“

—  Guillaume Apollinaire, libro Alcools

Mon beau navire ô ma mémoire
Avons-nous assez navigué
Dans une onde mauvaise à boire
Avons-nous assez divagué
De la belle aube au triste soir
"La Chanson du Mal-Aimé" (Song of the Poorly Loved), line 51; translation by William Meredith, from Francis Steegmuller Apollinaire: Poet Among the Painters (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973) p. 95.
Alcools (1912)