Jean Cocteau Quotes

French - Director July 5, 1889 - October 11, 1963

Style is a simple way of saying complicated things. - Jean Cocteau

Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.

Simple, Style, Saying, Way, Complicated

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth. - Jean Cocteau

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.

Truth, Poetry, Liar, Always, Who, Poet

There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He returns headlong to his beard.

Man, Beard, Always, Last, Off, He

The Louvre is a morgue; you go there to identify your friends.

You, Friends, Your, Go, Louvre, Identify

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original. - Jean Cocteau

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

Art, Copy, Artist, Only, Be Original, He

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.

Love, Home, Soul, Cats, Pet, Enjoy

The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.

Literature, Only, Out, Masterpiece

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.

Life, Simplicity, Design, Ideas, Always

In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator.

Nobody, Paris, Content, Actor, Everybody

I am a lie who always speaks the truth.

I Am, Truth, Lie, Always, Who, Speaks

Top 10
Jean Cocteau
Quotes

It is not I who become addicted, it is my body.

Body, Who, Become, Addicted

True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.

Habit, True, Us, Seeing, Things, Realism

Silence moves faster when it's going backward.

Silence, Going, Backward, Faster, Moves

Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.

You, Without, Go, Knowing, Far, How Far

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.

Man, Alcohol, Moments, Escape, Comfort

When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.

Work, Time, Only, Ahead, Behind, Appears

A film is a petrified fountain of thought. - Jean Cocteau

A film is a petrified fountain of thought.

Thought, Movies, Fountain, Film

All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.

Good, Music, Feelings, Mysterious, Which

Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what's known as infinity.

Mystery, Own, Infinity, Gods, Above

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

Poetry, True, Roses, Poet, Scent, Bother

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.

Friendship, God, Best, Me, Friends, Lost

Life is a horizontal fall.

Life, Fall, Life Is A, Horizontal

Poets don't draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.

Up, Handwriting, Tie, Again, Poets, Then

After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.

Death, Reading, Long, Like, Journal, His

Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the same effect of youth and freshness and originality and spontaneity as it did originally, and you have done a poet's job. The rest is literature.

Light, Youth, You, Job, Rest, Literature

There are too many souls of wood not to love those wooden characters who do indeed have a soul.

Love, Soul, Wood, Who, To Love, Souls

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