Youth is certain what it rejects before it knows what it will accept.
JEAN COCTEAUPoetry is a religion without hope. The poet exhausts himself in its service, knowing that, in the long run, a masterpiece is nothing but the performance of a trained dog on very shaky ground.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
-
-
Since these mysteries exceed my grasp, I shall pretend to have organized them.
JEAN COCTEAU -
It is difficult to live without opium after having known it because it is difficult, after knowing opium, to take earth seriously. And unless one is a saint, it is difficult to live without taking earth seriously.
JEAN COCTEAU -
I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
JEAN COCTEAU -
You have comfort. You don’t have luxury. And don’t tell me that money plays a part. The luxury I advocate has nothing to do with money. It cannot be bought. It is the reward of those who have NO Fear or Discomfort.
JEAN COCTEAU -
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?
JEAN COCTEAU -
A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Continue reading Proust. His magnificent intelligence is particularly fond of describing stupidity. Which is ultimately exhausting.
JEAN COCTEAU -
We are in a period of such individualism that one no longer speaks of disciples; one speaks of thieves.
JEAN COCTEAU -
It is excruciating to be an unbeliever with a spirit that is deeply religious.
JEAN COCTEAU -
The eyes of the dead are closed gently; we also have to open gently the eyes of the living.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
JEAN COCTEAU -
Every day in the mirror I watch death at work.
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 -
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






