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.

Quote by Jean Cocteau

Topics: Jean Cocteau Quotes

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.

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 poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.

Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.

Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.

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...

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

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

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

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

Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his...

Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his...

Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for.

Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for.

Wealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his...

Wealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his...

Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.

Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.

Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.

Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.

Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and...

Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and...

A good upbringing consists in hiding how much you think of yourself, and how little...

A good upbringing consists in hiding how much you think of yourself, and how little...

I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?

I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?

There are truths which one can only say after having won the right to say...

There are truths which one can only say after having won the right to say...

I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you don't...

I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you don't...

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

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

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...

Whatever the public blames you for, cultivate it; it is yourself.

Whatever the public blames you for, cultivate it; it is yourself.