The reaction of the labor of the mind upon the mind itself is so important that very often it deserves to be considered longer, more attentively than the labor or the product of that labor. The benefection...or the malefaction of this reactions is very frequentely more important than the leterary work itself. The byproduct is thus more important than the product. The efford expended by the poet and the poem interest me less than the subtleties and the enlightment acquired during the effort. And that is why one must labor over oneself. the poem will be for the others, that is, for the superficial quality, the initial shock, the effect, the expenditure, while the effort will be for myself- that is, for the duration, the continuation the profit, the progress...


- Paul Valéry -