Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality.
JEAN COCTEAUSince the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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We are in a period of such individualism that one no longer speaks of disciples; one speaks of thieves.
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Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility… It insists on living its own life.
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Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
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The only way to kill death is through photography.
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Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.
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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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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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Not only should you not accept a prize. You should not try to deserve one either.
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And now I have to confess the unpardonable and the scandalous. I am a happy man. And I am going to tell you the secret of my happiness. It is quite simple. I love mankind. I love love. I hate hate. I try to understand and accept.
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Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.
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Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.
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May the devil himself splatter you with dung.
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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.
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We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.
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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