I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
JEAN COCTEAUThe poet, by composing poems, uses a language that is neither dead nor living, that few people speak, and few people understand We are the servants of an unknown force that lives within us, manipulates us, and dictates this language to us.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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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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One 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.
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An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.
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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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A film is a petrified fountain of thought.
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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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Since these mysteries exceed my grasp, I shall pretend to have organized them.
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It is excruciating to be an unbeliever with a spirit that is deeply religious.
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An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.
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When I write, I disturb. When I show a film, I disturb. When I exhibit my painting, I disturb, and I disturb if I don’t. I have a knack for disturbing.
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Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
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A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.
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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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Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.
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Everything one does in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing toward death. To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving. It is to concern oneself with something other than life or death.
JEAN COCTEAU