Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
JEAN COCTEAUI love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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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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The public is never pleased with what we do, wanting always a copy of what we have done.
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We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.
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Not only should you not accept a prize. You should not try to deserve one either.
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The extreme limit of wisdom, that’s what the public calls madness.
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I feel myself inhabited by a force or being — very little known to me. It gives the orders; I follow.
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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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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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There’s no such thing as love; only proof of love.
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All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.
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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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The job of the poet (a job which can’t be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.
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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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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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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 COCTEAU