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Jean Cocteau

91 quotes

“I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Visite" in Discours du Grand Sommeil (1920); later published in Collected Works Vol. 4 (1947)
“A prig always finds a last refuge in responsibility.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower (1922), Preface
“I am a lie who always speaks the truth.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Le Paquet Rouge" in Opéra (1925)
“The Louvre is like the morgue; one goes there to identify one’s friends.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Le Secret Professionnel" in Le Rappel à l’Ordre (1922; 1926)
“Poets don’t draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dessins (1924), as quoted by Pierre Chanel in "A Thousand Flashes of Genius", Jean Cocteau and the French Scene (1984)
“True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Le Mystère Laïc (1928); later published in Collected Works Vol. 10 (1950)
“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.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Les Enfants Terribles translation by Rosamond Lehmann (1929)
“Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what’s known as infinity.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1932 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Anubis" to the Sphinx, in Act 2 of The Infernal Machine (1932); Collected Works Vol. 5 (1948)
“Depuis le jour de ma naissance, ma mort s'est mise en marche. Elle marche à ma rencontre, sans se presser.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Postambule" in La Fin du Potomac (1939); later published in Collected Works Vol. 2 (1947)
“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.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Du Rêve" in La Difficulté d’Etre [The Difficulty of Being] (1947)
“What is line? It is life. A line must live at each point along its course in such a way that the artist’s presence makes itself felt above that of the model... With the writer, line takes precedence over form and content. It runs through the words he assembles. It strikes a continuous note unperceived by ear or eye. It is, in a way, the soul’s style, and if the line ceases to have a life of its own, if it only describes an arabesque, the soul is missing and the writing dies.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: De la Ligne" in La Difficulté d’Etre [The Difficulty of Being] (1947)
“Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Super 8 Book (1975) by Lenny Lipton (ed. Chet Roaman); also in Aesthetic Aspects of Recent Experimental Film (1980) by Barry Walter Moore, Garth S. Jowett, p. 6
“After the writer’s death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the journal of Franz Kafka; diary entry (7 June 1953); Past Tense: Diaries Vol. 2 (1988)
“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.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Invisibility" in Diary of an Unknown (1953)
“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Newsweek (16 May 1955) Variant translation: Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.
“The trouble about the Académie is that by the time they get around to electing us to a seat, we really need a bed.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his election to Académie Française (1955)
“We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his election to Académie Française (1955) Variant translation: Of course I believe in luck. How else does one explain the successes of one's enemies?
“What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end; legends are lies which become history in the end.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Observer (22 September 1957)
“The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Newsweek (7 April 1958)
“Poetry is indispensable — if I only knew what for.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Necessity of Art (1959) by Ernst Fischer, Ch. 1
“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.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in New York World Telegram & Sun (21 August 1960); also in Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion (2004) by Joseph Abboud, p. 79
“A film is a petrified fountain of thought.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Esquire magazine (February 1961)
“The ear disapproves but tolerates certain musical pieces; transfer them into the domain of our nose, and we will be forced to flee.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in An Encyclopedia of Quotations About Music (1981) by Nat Shapiro, p. 130
“You’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Ned Rorem The Dick Cavett Show (PBS) (6 October 1981)
“Commissions suit me. They set limits. Jean Marais dared me to write play in which he would not speak in the first act, would weep for joy in the second and in the last would fall backward down a flight of stairs.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vogue (May 1983)
“That pile of paper on his left side went on living like the watch on a dead soldier’s wrist.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his visit to the deathbed of Marcel Proust, as quoted in "Cocteau: The Great Enchanter" by Edmund White Vogue (May 1984)
“I have lost my seven best friends, which is to say God has had mercy on me seven times without realizing it. He lent a friendship, took it from me, sent me another.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vogue (May 1984)
“Don’t for a moment believe He was killing the young; He was costuming angels.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vogue (May 1984)
“He has the manner of a giant with the look of a child, a lazy activeness, a mad wisdom, a solitude encompassing the world.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Orson Welles, as quoted in The New York Times (11 October 1985)
“There are too many souls of wood not to love those wooden characters who do indeed have a soul.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On marionettes, as quoted in The New York Times (15 February 1987)
“The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, they finish by loading honors on your head.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Moments of Clarity (2002) by Thomas L. Jackson, p. 88
“The skin of all of us is responsive to gypsy songs and military marches.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Slonimsky's Book of Musical Anecdotes (2002) by Nicolas Slonimsky, p. 33
“Mirrors would do well to reflect a little more before sending back images.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 159
“The joy of youth is to disobey, but the trouble is that there are no longer any orders.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 271
“When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art is science made clear.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One must be a living man and a posthumous artist.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The extreme limit of wisdom — that’s what the public calls madness.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas .”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are truths which one can only say after having won the right to say them.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Also quoted in Diary of an Unknown (1991) as translated by Jesse Browne.
“Look out! Be on your guard, because alone of all the arts, music moves all around you.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1889–1963) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Le Secret Professionnel" (originally published 1922); later published in Collected Works Vol. 9 (1950)
“Mettez un lieu commun en place, nettoyez-le, frottez-le, éclairez-le de telle sorte qu'il frappe avec sa jeunesse et avec la même fraîcheur, le même jet qu'il avait à sa source, vous ferez œuvre de poète. Tout le reste est littérature.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Le Secret Professionnel" (originally published 1922); later published in Collected Works Vol. 9 (1950)