Poetry is a religion without hope. The poet exhausts himself in its service, knowing that, in the long run, a masterpiece is nothing but the performance of a trained dog on very shaky ground.
JEAN COCTEAUPoetry is indispensable – if I only knew what for.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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Art is science in the flesh.
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I’ve always preferred mythology to history. History is truth that becomes an illusion. Mythology is an illusion that becomes reality.
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Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time.
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It is not I who become addicted, it is my body.
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After you have written a thing and you reread it, there is always the temptation to fix it up, to improve it, to remove its poison, blunt its sting.
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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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Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
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French people are Italian people in a bad mood.
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Picasso said that everything is a miracle, that it’s a miracle that we don’t dissolve in our baths.
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The eyes of the dead are closed gently; we also have to open gently the eyes of the living.
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Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself.
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A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.
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The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.
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The public is never pleased with what we do, wanting always a copy of what we have done.
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