Jean Cocteau: Trending quotes (page 5)
Jean Cocteau trending quotes. Read the latest quotes in collection
Jean Cocteau:
246
quotes
23
likes
“Poetry is indispensable — if I only knew what for.”
As quoted in The Necessity of Art (1959) by Ernst Fischer, Ch. 1
"Le Secret Professionnel" (originally published 1922); later published in Collected Works Vol. 9 (1950)
A Call to Order (1926)
“There are truths which one can only say after having won the right to say them.”
Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918)
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.
"Le Secret Professionnel" (originally published 1922); later published in Collected Works Vol. 9 (1950)
A Call to Order (1926)
Cyril Connolly in The Unquiet Grave (1944; 1951), Part 2
Misattributed
“Mirrors would do well to reflect a little more before sending back images.”
As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 159
“I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.”
"Visite" in Discours du Grand Sommeil (1920); later published in Collected Works Vol. 4 (1947)
Opium (1929)
“Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else — and failing.”
Raymond Radiguet, who was quoted by Cocteau in his acceptance speech to the Académie Française (October 1955)
Misattributed
“One is either judge or accused. The judge sits, the accused stands. Live on your feet.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
“Beauty cannot be recognized with a cursory glance.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988), On Invisibility
“There are too many souls of wood not to love those wooden characters who do indeed have a soul.”
On marionettes, as quoted in The New York Times (15 February 1987)
“Do not fear being ridiculous in relation to the ridiculous.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
On Orson Welles, as quoted in The New York Times (11 October 1985)
“The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.”
Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918)