You believe I run after the strange because I do not know the beautiful; no, it is because you do not know the beautiful that I seek the strange.

People, through finding something ‘beautiful,’ think something else ‘unbeautiful

I wanted to make people think of a totally different way of living from that which we, educated people, live. I would absolutely not want anyone to find it beautiful or good without a thought.

Puede muy bien suceder, que ni él ni yo sepamos nada de lo que es bello y de lo que es bueno; pero hay esta diferencia, que él cree saberlo aunque no sepa nada, y yo, no sabiendo nada, creo no saber. Me parece, pues, que en esto yo, aunque poco más, era más sabio, porque no creía saber lo que no sabía

A quienes me preguntan la razón de mis viajes les contesto que sé bien de qué huyo pero ignoro lo que busco

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Ignorance lies not in the things you don't know, but in the things you know that ain't so.

Yo solía pensar que era la persona más extraña en el mundo, pero luego pensé, hay mucha gente así en el mundo, tiene que haber alguien como yo, que se sienta bizarra y dañada de la misma forma en que yo me siento. Me la imagino, e imagino que ella también debe estar por ahí pensando en mí. Bueno, yo espero que si tú estás por ahí y lees esto sepas que, sí, es verdad, yo estoy aquí, soy tan extraña como tú

I just think of things as beautiful or not. Can't you understand? I don't think of good or bad. Just of beautiful or ugly. I think a lot of nice things are ugly and a lot of nasty things are beautiful.

This feeling might be pain, poetry, or both. But at least it is no lie. Ignorance isn’t bliss. Ignorance is to miss: to block ourselves from seeing sky.

The beautiful is hidden from the eyes of those who are not searching for the truth, for whom it is contra-indicated. But the profound lack of spirituality of those people who see art and condemn it, the fact that they are neither willing nor ready to consider the meaning and aim of their existence in any higher sense, is often masked by the vulgarly simplistic cry, 'I don't like it!', 'It's boring!' It is not a point that one can argue; but it like the utterance of a man born blind who is being told about a rainbow. He simply remains deaf to the pain undergone by the artist in order to share with others the truth he has reached.

The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.

What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.

It is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil, because by making people neglectful it lets in disaster. There is a dangerous optimism of ignorance and indifference.