“The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizarre which seems inherent in them.”
Design
“The poet doesn't invent. He listens.”
PoetryAll Quotes by Jean Cocteau
“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.”
Art“Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.”
Art“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.”
Society“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“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.”
Best“All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.”
Good“The poet doesn't invent. He listens.”
Poetry“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.”
Death“A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.”
Poetry“The extreme limit of wisdom, that's what the public calls madness.”
Wisdom“Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.”
Death“Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for.”
Poetry“I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?”
Success“I am a lie who always speaks the truth.”
Truth“Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.”
Art“After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.”
Death“The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.”
Poetry“Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.”
Death“We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?”
Success