Poetry is indispensable – if I only knew what for.
JEAN COCTEAUMay the devil himself splatter you with dung.
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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Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
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A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.
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Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.
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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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A film is a petrified fountain of thought.
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Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.
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One must not mistake majority for truth.
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Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal. Drugs, alcohol, or lies. Unable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself. Lies and inaccuracy give him a few moments of comfort.
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The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.
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The joy of the young is to disobey.
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The poet, by composing poems, uses a language that is neither dead nor living, that few people speak, and few people understand We are the servants of an unknown force that lives within us, manipulates us, and dictates this language to us.
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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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A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.
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The extreme limit of wisdom, that’s what the public calls madness.
JEAN COCTEAU