Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau

29 quotes

French writer and film director Jean Cocteau has a gift for language that makes complex ideas feel instantly clear. Whether reflecting on Art or Death, Jean Cocteau brought uncommon clarity to every subject. Discover 37 of Jean Cocteau's most memorable quotes, ranging across Art, Death, Poetry, Success, and Truth. One standout: "Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper."

“A film is a petrified fountain of thought.”

— Jean Cocteau

Movies

All Quotes by Jean Cocteau

“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

“A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.”

— Jean Cocteau

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.”

— Jean Cocteau

Death

“Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not obtained by sentimental blackmail.”

— Jean Cocteau

Art

“Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.”

— Jean Cocteau

Poetry

“Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for.”

— Jean Cocteau

Poetry

“A film is a petrified fountain of thought.”

— Jean Cocteau

Movies

“The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.”

— Jean Cocteau

Death

“We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?”

— Jean Cocteau

Success

“Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.”

— Jean Cocteau

Death

“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

Death

“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

Society

“Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.”

— Jean Cocteau

Death

“Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.”

— Jean Cocteau

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.”

— Jean Cocteau

Best

“The extreme limit of wisdom, that's what the public calls madness.”

— Jean Cocteau

Wisdom

“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.”

— Jean Cocteau

Design

“I am a lie who always speaks the truth.”

— Jean Cocteau

Truth

“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.”

— Jean Cocteau

Art

“I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?”

— Jean Cocteau

Success