Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
JEAN COCTEAUNothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
JEAN COCTEAUListen 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.
JEAN COCTEAUThe eyes of the dead are closed gently; we also have to open gently the eyes of the living.
JEAN COCTEAUMystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what’s known as infinity.
JEAN COCTEAUMirrors should think longer before they reflect.
JEAN COCTEAUI know that poetry is indispensable, but to what I could not say.
JEAN COCTEAUI love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
JEAN COCTEAUWealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his pile may flaunt his spoils, but cannot wear them plausibly.
JEAN COCTEAUYouth is certain what it rejects before it knows what it will accept.
JEAN COCTEAUOne of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends.
JEAN COCTEAUChildren and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
JEAN COCTEAUAppreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
JEAN COCTEAUYou’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.
JEAN COCTEAUMirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.
JEAN COCTEAUPoetry is a religion with no hope.
JEAN COCTEAUYou 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.
JEAN COCTEAU