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"36 Jean Cocteau Quotes & Sayings

      French     /     View profile
Born: 5 July 1889. Died: 11 October 1963 | Poet | Playwright | Novelist | Filmmaker |

Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.

Artist Work Plant Horticulture
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We have a tendency to judge others according to ourselves.

We Tendency Judge Ourselves
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The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.

Poet Asks Admiration Believed
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One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it.

Characteristics Dream Nothing Surprises
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The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.

Poet Liar Speaks Truth
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What is style? Saying complicated things in a simple way.

What Style Complicated Simple
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A film is a petrified fountain of thought.

Film Fountain Thought
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Living is a horizontal fall.

Living Fall
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Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live

Live Teach Death How
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What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you

Public Criticizes You Cultivate
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Art is science made clear.

Art Science Clear
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There's no such thing as love; only proof of love.
Thing Love Proof
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The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

Poet Invent Listens
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I am burning myself up and will always do so.

I Burning Myself Always
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Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.

Art Marriage Conscious
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It is excruciating to be an unbeliever with a spirit that is deeply religious.

Excruciating Unbeliever Spirit Religious
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I'm not willing just to be tolerated. That wounds my love of love and of liberty.

Willing Tolerated Love Liberty
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The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.

Greatest Literature Dictionary Order
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A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.

True Poet Scent 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.

Art Beautiful Fashion Time
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I've always preferred mythology to history. History is truth that becomes an illusion. Mythology is an illusion that becomes reality

Mythology History Truth Reality
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What uniform can I wear to hide my heavy heart? It is too heavy. It will always show.

Uniform Hide Heavy heart Show
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Statues to great men are made of the stones thrown at them in their lifetime.
Statues Great men Stones Lifetime
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All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.

Music Something Feelings Motivated
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A man's truest self realizations might require him, above all, to learn to close his eyes: to let himself be taken unawares, to follow his dark angel, to risk his illegal instincts.

Self realizations Learn Unaware Instincts
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True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.

True realism Revealing Habit Prevents
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I only fear the death of others. For me, true death is that of the people I love

Fear Death People Love
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Watch yourself all your life in a mirror and you'll see Death at work like bees in a glass hive.

Yourself Life Death Work
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Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility. It insists on living its own life.

Poetry Hope Achieve Life
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Youth can only assert itself through the conviction that its ventures surpass all others and resemble nothing.

Youth Assert Conviction Nothing
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The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.

Worst Tragedy Poet Admired
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He who is affected by an insult is infected by it.

He Affected Insult Infected
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Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not obtained by sentimental blackmail.

Emotion Work Art Value
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The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.

Day Birth Death Walk
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The map of our life is folded in such a way that we cannot see one main road across it, but as it is opened out, we are constantly seeing new side roads. We think we are choosing, and we have no choice.

Map Life Road Choice
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We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.

We Shelter Angel Guardians
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Jean Cocteau Quotes & Sayings