Jean Cocteau citations célèbres
Jean Cocteau Citations
La Machine Infernale
Jean Cocteau: Citations en anglais
Diary of an Unknown (1988), On Invisibility
Contexte: Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal... unnable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself. Lies and inaccuracy give him a few moments of comfort, the trifling feeling of escape experienced at a masked ball. He distances himself from that which he feels and sees. He invents. He transfigures. He mythifies. He creates. He fancies himself an artist. He imitates, in his small way, the painters he claims are mad.
"Anubis" to the Sphinx, in Act 2 of The Infernal Machine (1932); Collected Works Vol. 5 (1948)
“The skin of all of us is responsive to gypsy songs and military marches.”
As quoted in Slonimsky's Book of Musical Anecdotes (2002) by Nicolas Slonimsky, p. 33
“That pile of paper on his left side went on living like the watch on a dead soldier’s wrist.”
On his visit to the deathbed of Marcel Proust, as quoted in "Cocteau: The Great Enchanter" by Edmund White Vogue (May 1984)
“He who is affected by an insult is infected by it.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
“Be helpful, even if it compromises you.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
“Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.”
As quoted in The Super 8 Book (1975) by Lenny Lipton (ed. Chet Roaman); also in Aesthetic Aspects of Recent Experimental Film (1980) by Barry Walter Moore, Garth S. Jowett, p. 6
“Compromise yourself. Obscure your own trail.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
“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)
“Respect movements, flee schools.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
“Hasten slowly. Run faster than beauty.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
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
