Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for.

Quote by Jean Cocteau

Topics: Jean Cocteau Quotes

Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the...

Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the...

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

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

I have lost my seven best friends, which is to say God has had mercy...

I have lost my seven best friends, which is to say God has had mercy...

If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save...

If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save...

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

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

What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.

What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.

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

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

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

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

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event,...

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event,...

You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it...

You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it...

Life is a horizontal fall.

Life is a horizontal fall.

The ear disapproves but tolerates certain musical pieces; transfer them into the domain of our...

The ear disapproves but tolerates certain musical pieces; transfer them into the domain of our...

Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not...

Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not...

Commissions suit me. They set limits. Jean Marais dared me to write play in which...

Commissions suit me. They set limits. Jean Marais dared me to write play in which...

Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying...

Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying...

There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This...

There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This...

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss...

Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss...

Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.

Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.

Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.

Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.