An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.
JEAN COCTEAUI have not looked at a newspaper in twenty years; if one is brought into the room, I flee. This is not because I am indifferent but because one cannot follow every road.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.
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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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My method is simple: not to bother about poetry. It must come of its own accord. Merely whispering its name drives it away.
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Poetry is a religion with no hope.
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I know that poetry is indispensable, but to what I could not say.
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Cultivate everything the critics hated in your first work – that’s what makes you unique.
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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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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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Beauty cannot be recognized with a cursory glance.
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The artist is a kind of prison from which the works of art escape.
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The only way to kill death is through photography.
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If a poet has a dream, it is not of becoming famous, but of being believed.
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Poetry is indispensable – if I only knew what for.
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Do as the beautiful woman: see to your figure and your petticoats. Though, of course, I am not speaking literally.
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The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.
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Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.
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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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Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility… It insists on living its own life.
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Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
JEAN COCTEAU -
I have not looked at a newspaper in twenty years; if one is brought into the room, I flee. This is not because I am indifferent but because one cannot follow every road.
JEAN COCTEAU -
I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
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We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?
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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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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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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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If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas.
JEAN COCTEAU