French people are Italian people in a bad mood.
JEAN COCTEAUArt is not a pastime but a priesthood.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.
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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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I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.
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We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.
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The speed of a runaway horse counts for nothing.
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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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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.
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Anything of any importance cannot help but be unrecognizable, since it bears no resemblance to anything already known.
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Poetry is indispensable – if I only knew what for.
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The eyes of the dead are closed gently; we also have to open gently the eyes of the living.
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The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.
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Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.
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Continue reading Proust. His magnificent intelligence is particularly fond of describing stupidity. Which is ultimately exhausting.
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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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Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time.
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