The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.
JEAN COCTEAUDo as the beautiful woman: see to your figure and your petticoats. Though, of course, I am not speaking literally.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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The artist is a kind of prison from which the works of art escape.
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A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.
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You have comfort. You don’t have luxury. And don’t tell me that money plays a part. The luxury I advocate has nothing to do with money. It cannot be bought. It is the reward of those who have NO Fear or Discomfort.
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Youth can only assert itself through the conviction that its ventures surpass all others and resemble nothing.
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Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what’s known as infinity.
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Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
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The joy of the young is to disobey.
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Not only should you not accept a prize. You should not try to deserve one either.
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I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.
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The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.
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Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.
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Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.
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I know that poetry is indispensable, but to what I could not say.
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Wealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his pile may flaunt his spoils, but cannot wear them plausibly.
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Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility… It insists on living its own life.
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The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.
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It is difficult to live without opium after having known it because it is difficult, after knowing opium, to take earth seriously. And unless one is a saint, it is difficult to live without taking earth seriously.
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It is excruciating to be an unbeliever with a spirit that is deeply religious.
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Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal. Drugs, alcohol, or lies. Unable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself. Lies and inaccuracy give him a few moments of comfort.
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Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.
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Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself.
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Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don’t like – then cultivate it. That’s the only part of your work that’s individual and worth keeping.
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French people are Italian people in a bad mood.
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You’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.
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I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.
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Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.
JEAN COCTEAU