“I love this word decadence, all shimmering in purple and gold. It suggests the subtle thoughts of ultimate civilization, a high literary culture, a soul capable of intense pleasures. It throws off bursts of fire and the sparkle of precious stones. It is redolent of the rouge of courtesans, the games of the circus, the panting of the gladiators, the spring of wild beasts, the consuming in flames of races exhausted by their capacity for sensation, as the tramp of an invading army sounds.”
First quoted in La Plume (1903)
For more information on Paul Verlaine, see his biography in Poetry Foundation.
If you like this quote, you may also enjoy this one by Charles Baudelaire, also in Dark Passions.
Dark Passions Magazine 