Since these mysteries exceed my grasp, I shall pretend to have organized them.
JEAN COCTEAUPoetry is indispensable – if I only knew what for.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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You’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.
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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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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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I feel myself inhabited by a force or being — very little known to me. It gives the orders; I follow.
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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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Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.
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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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I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.
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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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Art is science in the flesh.
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Never do what a specialist can do better. Discover your own specialty. Do not despair if your specialty appears to be more delicate, a lesser thing. Make up in finesse what you lose in force.
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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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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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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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Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.
JEAN COCTEAU