Ponge Quotes & Sayings

He realized that for Ponge there was no division between the work of writing and the work of seeing. For no word can be written without first having been seen, and before it finds its way to the page it must first have been part of the body, a physical presence that one has lived with in the same way one lives with one's heart, one's stomach, and one's brain. Memory, then, not so much as the past contained within us, but as proof of our life in the present. If a man is to be truly present among his surroundings, he must be thinking not of himself, but of what he sees. He might forget himself in order to be there. And from that forgetfulness arises the power of memory. — Paul Auster

Another way of approaching the thing is to consider it unnamed, unnameable. — Francis Ponge

When it has finished saying it, it no longer is. The longer it is in saying it, the more it can say it at length, the more slowly it melts, the better quality it is. — Francis Ponge

For at the heart of the uniform, reasoning is shaky and elusive: a mind in search of ideas should first stock up on appearances. — Francis Ponge

History - that little sewer where man loves to wallow. — Francis Ponge