Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.
JEAN COCTEAUAn artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.
More Jean Cocteau Quotes
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There’s no such thing as love; only proof of love.
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Not only should you not accept a prize. You should not try to deserve one either.
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I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
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Cultivate everything the critics hated in your first work – that’s what makes you unique.
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I only fear the death of others. For me, true death is that of the people I love.
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One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends.
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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.
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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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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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Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.
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I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.
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The artist is a kind of prison from which the works of art escape.
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Picasso said that everything is a miracle, that it’s a miracle that we don’t dissolve in our baths.
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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.
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Youth can only assert itself through the conviction that its ventures surpass all others and resemble nothing.
JEAN COCTEAU