You have to be al­ways drunk. That`s all the­re is to it--it`s the
only way. So as not to feel the hor­ri­ble bur­den of time that bre­aks
your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be con­ti­nu­al­ly
drunk.
But on what?Wine, po­etry or vir­tue, as you wish. But be
drunk.
And if so­me­ti­mes, on the steps of a pa­la­ce or the gre­en grass of
a ditch, in the mo­urn­ful so­li­tu­de of your room, you wake aga­in,
drun­ken­ness al­re­ady di­mi­ni­shing or gone, ask the wind, the wave,
the star, the bird, the clock, eve­ry­thing that is fly­ing, eve­ry­thing
that is gro­aning, eve­ry­thing that is rol­ling, eve­ry­thing that is
sin­ging, eve­ry­thing that is spe­aking. . .ask what time it is and
wind, wave, star, bird, clock will an­swer you:"It is time to be
drunk! So as not to be the mar­ty­red sla­ves of time, be drunk, be
con­ti­nu­al­ly drunk! On wine, on po­etry or on vir­tue as you wish." ~Charles Baudelaire