Quotes from Jean Cocteau

tapestries to real animals.

Il faudrait apprendre à son âme à marcher pieds nus.

Et qui refuserait au Phénix une bûche Pour le naïf espoir de renaître avec lui ? (Phénixologie)

Art according to art! Love according to love! This is taking the salt away from Heaven. Do you think Our Savior tries to make Himself talked about? He does not ask to be recopied. God cannot be deified without ridicule. He likes to be lived. Dead languages are dead. One must translate Him into all the living languages, and help Him to hide Himself to do good just as the Devil hides himself to do evil.

La poésie ressemble à la mort. Je connais son Å"il bleu. Il donne la nausée. Cette nausée d'architecte toujours taquinant le vide, voilà le propre du poète. Le poète est, comme nous, invisible aux vivants.

Eu nu am nici o opinie ÅŸi nu aparÅ£in nici unui mediu.Eu m? adresez todeauna celor care se str?duiesc cu disperare s? fie liberi ÅŸi care probabil,ca ÅŸi mine,aÅŸteapt? s? fie loviÅ£i din toate p?rÅ£ile,ÅŸi asta în asemenea m?sur? încât,atunci când li se fac complimente,se întreab? dac? nu s-au f?cut vinovaÅ£i de vreo greÅŸeal?.

Les français sont des italiens sont des français de mauvaise humeur.

E foarte primejdios s? vrei numai ordinea ÅŸi s? nu creezi ÅŸi un fel de dezordine,în care sufletul s? ÅŸtie a se descurca,în loc s? se usuce printre linii moarte.

I francesi sono degli italiani di cattivo umore.

Un vaso medio vacío de vino, es también uno medio lleno; pero una mentira a medias, de ningún modo es una media verdad.

Am scris adeseori c? spiritul creator nu este altceva decât spiritul de contradicÅ£ie sub forma lui cea mai înalt?.

Es muss so etwas wie Glück geben. Wie sonst würden wir uns den Erfolg derjenigen erklären, die wir nicht mögen?

Jacques' life was like the rooms of Montmartre women that are never cleaned because they get up at four o'clock and slip a coat over their nightgown to go downstairs and eat.

Nu v? mulÅ£umiÅ£i cu acele întâlniri în timpul c?rora daÅ£i pe gât tot felul de alcooluri,f?r? s? v? spuneÅ£i nimic.

Le temps des hommes est de l'éternité pliée

I might swing from branch to branch, but always in the same tree.

Unii sunt ocupaÅ£i cu absurda m?reÅ£ie a visului,în timp ce ceilalÅ£i f?ptuiesc ÅŸi nu viseaz?.Ceea ce provoac? pe nesimÅ£ite o circulaÅ£ie de unde contrarii pe care sufletul le înregistreaz?,în timp ce mintea nu-i capabil? de a le descifra.

Cultivate everything the critics hated in your first work - that's what makes you unique.

Watch yourself all your life in a mirror and you'll see Death at work like bees in a glass hive.

Be a mere assistant to your unconscious. Do only half the work. The rest will do itself.

The only work of art which succeeds is that which fails.

Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.

Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not obtained by sentimental blackmail.

Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.