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.
JEAN COCTEAUChildren and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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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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Youth can only assert itself through the conviction that its ventures surpass all others and resemble 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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The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.
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When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.
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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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The extreme limit of wisdom, that’s what the public calls madness.
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The speed of a runaway horse counts for nothing.
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Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
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Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself.
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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.
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Silence moves faster when it’s going backward.
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Continue reading Proust. His magnificent intelligence is particularly fond of describing stupidity. Which is ultimately exhausting.
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A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.
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French people are Italian people in a bad mood.
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