Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.
JEAN COCTEAUMan 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.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
-
-
The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Since these mysteries exceed my grasp, I shall pretend to have organized them.
JEAN COCTEAU -
It is not I who become addicted, it is my body.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Every day in the mirror I watch death at work.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.
JEAN COCTEAU -
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.
JEAN COCTEAU -
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?
JEAN COCTEAU -
Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.
JEAN COCTEAU -
French people are Italian people in a bad mood.
JEAN COCTEAU -
An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Youth can only assert itself through the conviction that its ventures surpass all others and resemble nothing.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.
JEAN COCTEAU -
The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.
JEAN COCTEAU -
The speed of a runaway horse counts for nothing.
JEAN COCTEAU -
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.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Poetry is a religion with no hope.
JEAN COCTEAU -
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.
JEAN COCTEAU -
The artist is a kind of prison from which the works of art escape.
JEAN COCTEAU -
The public is never pleased with what we do, wanting always a copy of what we have done.
JEAN COCTEAU -
It is excruciating to be an unbeliever with a spirit that is deeply religious.
JEAN COCTEAU -
There’s no such thing as love; only proof of love.
JEAN COCTEAU -
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.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.
JEAN COCTEAU -
What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Mirrors should think longer before they reflect.
JEAN COCTEAU