Jean Cocteau Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• I only fear the death of others. For me, true death is that of the people I love

  Jean Cocteau

  People

  29 Copy quote

• Youth is certain what it rejects before it knows what it will accept.

  Jean Cocteau

  Youth, Accepting, Certain

  8 Copy quote

• I am burning myself up and will always do so.

  Jean Cocteau

  Burning

  Jean Cocteau (1990). “Opium: The Illustrated Diary of His Cure”, Peter Owen Publishers

  4 Copy quote

• Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.

  Jean Cocteau

  Appreciation, Art, Moral

  9 Copy quote

• There are too many souls of wood not to love those wooden characters who do indeed have a soul.

  Jean Cocteau

  Character, Soul, Woods

  The New York Times, February 15, 1987.

  4 Copy quote

• The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.

  Jean Cocteau

  Art, Congratulations, Giving

  8 Copy quote

• Since these mysteries exceed my grasp, I shall pretend to have organized them.

  Jean Cocteau

  Assessment, Mystery, Organized

  13 Copy quote

• Art is science in the flesh.

  Jean Cocteau

  Art, Philosophy, History

  Jean Cocteau, Margaret Crosland (1972). “Cocteau's world: an anthology of writings”, Owen

  7 Copy quote

• If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas.

  Jean Cocteau

  Crucifixion Of Christ, Crowds, Crucifixion

  Le Coq et l'Arlequin (1918) in Le Rappel ... l'ordre (Recall to Order, 1926) p. 39

  14 Copy quote

• 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, the finish by loading honors on your head.

  Jean Cocteau

  Truth, Honor, Intuition

  "Moments of Clarity". Book by Thomas L. Jackson, March 31, 2002.

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  Glasses, Mirrors, Advice

  Quoted by Ned Rorem on "The Dick Cavett Show" at PBS, October 06, 1981.

  37 Copy quote

• Picasso said that everything is a miracle, that it's a miracle that we don't dissolve in our baths.

  Jean Cocteau

  Miracle, Baths, Said

  4 Copy quote

• It is not inspiration; it is expiration.

  Jean Cocteau

  Inspiration

  Jean Cocteau (2013). “The Difficulty of Being”, p.46, Melville House

  4 Copy quote

• An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

  Jean Cocteau

  Artist, Order, Original Art

  "Le Coq et l'Arlequin". Essay by Jean Cocteau, 1918.

  34 Copy quote

• The job of the poet (a job which can't be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.

  Jean Cocteau

  Art, Jobs, Giving

  22 Copy quote

• The public only takes up yesterday as a stick to beat today.

  Jean Cocteau

  Yesterday, Criticism, Today

  Jean Cocteau (1926*). “A Call to Order, Written Between the Years 1918 and 1926 and Including "Cock and Harlequin", "Professional Secrets", and Other Critical Essays”

  4 Copy quote

• Poetry 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.

  Jean Cocteau

  Running, Dog, Knowing

  "Diary of an Unknown". Book by Jean Cocteau, 1988.

  20 Copy quote

• Not only should you not accept a prize. You should not try to deserve one either.

  Jean Cocteau

  Trying, Accepting, Should

  7 Copy quote

• When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.

  Jean Cocteau

  Time, Funny Basketball, Originality

  "Cock and harlequin: Notes concerning music". Book by Jean Cocteau, 1921.

  11 Copy quote

• My only politics have been friendship.

  Jean Cocteau

  Friendship, Has Beens

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  Running, Writing, Eye

  "The Difficulty of Being". Book by Jean Cocteau, 1947.

  33 Copy quote

• Everything one does in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing toward death. To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving. It is to concern oneself with something other than life or death.

  Jean Cocteau

  Love, Moving, Drug

  Jean Cocteau (1990). “Opium: The Illustrated Diary of His Cure”, Peter Owen Publishers

  33 Copy quote

• It is excruciating to be an unbeliever with a spirit that is deeply religious.

  Jean Cocteau

  Religious, Spirit, Unbelievers

  5 Copy quote

• One is either judge or accused. The judge sits, the accused stands. Live on your feet.

  Jean Cocteau

  Feet, Judging, Accused

  "Diary of an Unknown". Book by Jean Cocteau, 1988.

  5 Copy quote

• 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

  Years, Twenties, Rooms

  4 Copy quote

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