Le plus grand chef-d'œuvre de la littérature n’est jamais qu’un dictionnaire en désordre. (fr.)
Źródło: Le Potomak.
Jean Cocteau: 152 cytaty4 Polubienia
Jean Cocteau słynne cytaty
„Takt polega na tym, by wiedzieć jak daleko można się posunąć by nie posunąć się za daleko.”
Le tact dans l’audace c’est de savoir jusqu’où on peut aller trop loin. (fr.)
Źródło: Le Coq et l’Arlequin, Éditions de la Sirène, Paryż, 1918.
Jean Cocteau cytaty
„Koniecznością jest niekiedy się poświęcić. To higiena duszy.”
Il est indispensable de se sacrifier quelquefois. C’est l’hygiène de l’âme. (fr.) <br class="br">Źródło: Les Parents Terribles http://books.google.com/books?id=tTsOAAAAQAAJ, Taylor & Francis, 1948, s. 81
„Dramatem naszej epoki jest to, że głupota zabrała się do myślenia.”
Źródło: Nieprzyjemne prawdy. Aforyzmy naszych czasów, KAW, 1987, wybór i tłum. Henryk Zdanowski, s. 7.
„Optymizm jest ślepy, pesymizm gorzki.”
Aveugle: voici l'optimiste. Amer: voici le pessimiste. (fr.)
„Mądrość polega na tym, aby nie być szalonym, jeśli tylko usprawiedliwiają to okoliczności.”
La sagesse est d'être fou lorsque les circonstances en valent la peine. (fr.)
„Jak to przyjemnie oklaskiwać Strawinskiego na twarzy swego sąsiada.”
o rękoczynach, do jakich doszło między zwolennikami i przeciwnikami kompozytora w czasie wykonania Święta wiosny w 1913.
Źródło: Janusz Ekiert, Czy wiesz? Zagadki muzyczne, Warszawa 1995, wyd. Alfa, s. 83, 241.
„Arcydzieło to partia szachów wygranych matem.”
Un chef-d’œuvre est une partie d’échecs gagnée échec et mat. (fr.)
Źródło: Le Coq et l’Arlequin, Éditions de la Sirène, Paryż, 1918.
„Odrobina za dużo, to zawsze w sam raz dla mnie.”
Un petit peu trop, c'est juste assez pour moi. (fr.)
„Cudowne dzieci to zazwyczaj dzieci o wybujałej wyobraźni.”
Un enfant prodige est un enfant dont les parents ont beaucoup d'imagination. (fr.)
„Kobieta powinna widzieć, jak dalece może iść za daleko.”
Źródło: Leksykon złotych myśli, wyboru dokonał Krzysztof Nowak, Warszawa 1998.
„Nie należy mylić prawdy z opinią większości.”
Il ne faut pas confondre la vérité avec l'opinion de la majorité. (fr.)
Źródło: Opium. Dziennik kuracji odwykowej, tłum. R. i A. Nowakowie, Wyd. Literackie, Kraków 1990.
„Chciałbym mieć umysł tak giętki, jak mają ciało akrobaci.”
J’aimerais avoir l’âme faite comme ces acrobates ont le corps. (fr.)
Jean Cocteau: Cytaty po angielsku
“The joy of youth is to disobey, but the trouble is that there are no longer any orders.”
As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 271
“Lack of manners is the sign of a hero.”
Źródło: Opium: The Diary of His Cure
“Living is a horizontal fall.”
Opium (1929)
Wariant: Life is a horizontal fall.
Źródło: Opium: The Diary of His Cure
Diary of an Unknown (1988), On Invisibility
Kontekst: Poetry is an ethic. By ethic I mean a secret code of behavior, a discipline constructed and conducted according to the capabilities of a man who rejects the falsifications of the categorical imperative.
This personal morality may appear to be immorality itself in the eyes of those who lie to themselves, or who live a life of confusion, in such a manner that, for them, a lie becomes the truth, and our truth becomes a lie...
“Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988), On Invisibility
Kontekst: Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility. In that case, you ask me, of what use is it? Of no use. Who will see it? No one. Which does not prevent it from being an outrage to modesty, though its exhibitionism is squandered on the blind. It is enough for poetry to express a personal ethic, which can then break away in the form of a work. It insists on living its own life. It becomes the pretext for a thousand misunderstandings that go by the name of glory...
Diary of an Unknown (1988), On Invisibility
Kontekst: Beauty is always the result of an accident. Of a violent lapse between acquired habits and those yet to be acquired. It baffles and disgusts. It may even horrify. Once the new habit has been acquired, the accident ceases to be an accident. It becomes classical and loses its shock value.
Diary of an Unknown (1988), On Invisibility
Kontekst: Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility. In that case, you ask me, of what use is it? Of no use. Who will see it? No one. Which does not prevent it from being an outrage to modesty, though its exhibitionism is squandered on the blind. It is enough for poetry to express a personal ethic, which can then break away in the form of a work. It insists on living its own life. It becomes the pretext for a thousand misunderstandings that go by the name of glory...
"De la Ligne" in La Difficulté d’Etre [The Difficulty of Being] (1947)
Kontekst: What is line? It is life. A line must live at each point along its course in such a way that the artist’s presence makes itself felt above that of the model... With the writer, line takes precedence over form and content. It runs through the words he assembles. It strikes a continuous note unperceived by ear or eye. It is, in a way, the soul’s style, and if the line ceases to have a life of its own, if it only describes an arabesque, the soul is missing and the writing dies.
“History is facts which become lies in the end; legends are lies which become history in the end.”
As quoted in The Observer (22 September 1957)
Kontekst: What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end; legends are lies which become history in the end.
“What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.”
Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918)
“We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?”
On his election to Académie Française (1955) Variant translation: Of course I believe in luck. How else does one explain the successes of one's enemies?
“The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.”
Depuis le jour de ma naissance, ma mort s'est mise en marche. Elle marche à ma rencontre, sans se presser.
"Postambule" in La Fin du Potomac (1939); later published in Collected Works Vol. 2 (1947)
“I am a lie who always speaks the truth.”
"La Paquet Rouge" in Opéra (1925)
“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.”
As quoted in Newsweek (16 May 1955) Variant translation: Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.
