Jean Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. He is best remembered for his avant-garde films, such as The Blood of a Poet (1930), Beauty and the Beast (1946), and Orpheus (1950). He was also a major contributor to the Surrealist movement, and is known for his unique blend of fantasy, surrealism, and poetic realism.
What is the most famous quote by Jean Cocteau ?
The Louvre is a morgue; you go there to identify your friends.
— Jean Cocteau
What can you learn from Jean Cocteau (Life Lessons)
- Jean Cocteau taught us that creativity can be found in the most unexpected places, and that it is important to look at the world with a fresh perspective.
- He also showed us that success is not defined by the opinions of others, but rather by our own personal standards.
- Lastly, Cocteau taught us that it is important to take risks and to never be afraid to challenge the status quo.
The most vibrant Jean Cocteau quotes that will add value to your life
Following is a list of the best Jean Cocteau quotes, including various Jean Cocteau inspirational quotes, and other famous sayings by Jean Cocteau.
Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.
Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.
Don't confuse the truth with the opinion of the majority.
The prettiest dresses are worn to be taken off.
The composer opens the cage door for arithmetic, the draftsman gives geometry its freedom.
Mirrors should think longer before they reflect.
Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.
Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
If a poet has a dream, it is not of becoming famous, but of being believed.
Surreal quotes by Jean Cocteau
Living is a horizontal fall.
An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.
Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.
You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.
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.
Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.
A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.
Quotations by Jean Cocteau that are poetic and innovative
An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.
The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.
French people are Italian people in a bad mood.
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?
What uniform can I wear to hide my heavy heart? It is too heavy. It will always show.
Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work.
Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.
Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal. Drugs, alcohol, or lies. Unable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself. Lies and inaccuracy give him a few moments of comfort.
The job of the poet (a job which can't be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.
Poets don't draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.
Poetry is a religion without hope. The poet exhausts himself in its service, knowing that, in the long run, a masterpiece is nothing but the performance of a trained dog on very shaky ground.
All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.
In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator.
Never do what a specialist can do better. Discover your own specialty. Do not despair if your specialty appears to be more delicate, a lesser thing. Make up in finesse what you lose in force.
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.
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.
What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.
Life is a horizontal fall.
The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.
We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.
Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what's known as infinity.
There's no such thing as love; only proof of love.
The extreme limit of wisdom --that's what the public calls madness.
If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas.
After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.
Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.
It is not I who become addicted, it is my body.
I am a lie who always speaks the truth.
When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.
See your disappointments as good fortune. One plan's deflation is another's inflation.
A film is a petrified fountain of thought.
The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.
One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends.
Alas! I do not believe that inspiration falls from heaven. think it rather the result of a profound indolence.