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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.

Jean Cocteau

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Jean Cocteau
Age: 74 †
Born: 1889
Born: July 5
Died: 1963
Died: October 11
Actor
Composer
Designer
Film Director
Illustrator
Librettist
Novelist
Painter
Photographer
Playwright
Poet
Postage Stamp Designer
Prosaist
Clément Eugène Jean Pierre Cocteau
Zhan Kokto
Eugène Jean Maurice Cocteau
Eugene Jean Maurice Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Art
Relation
Bizarre
Seems
Bears
Inherent
Ideas
Elements
Element
Always
Design
Event
Life
Events
Actual
Preconceived
Philosophy
Simplicity
Bewildered
Belief
Bear
Tragedies
History
Tragedy
Grandeur

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The poet Paul Éluard says that to understand my film version of Beauty and the Beast, you must love your dog more than your car.
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Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.
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The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.
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The artist is a kind of prison from which the works of art escape.
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See your disappointments as good fortune. One plan's deflation is another's inflation.
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I know that poetry is indispensable, but to what I could not say.
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The runner stopped dead, lost his balance, froze in one of those violent attitudes in which the photographers petrify living reality.
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All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.
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A prig always finds a last refuge in responsibility.
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The prettiest dresses are worn to be taken off.
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The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.
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Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.
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The speed of a runaway horse counts for nothing.
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Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.
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To be audacious with tact, you have to know to what point you can go too far.
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The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.
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The preservation of friendship is seen as opportunism. You are required to be in one camp or the other. You are enjoined to cut your heartstrings if they extend across the barricade.
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I love cats because I enjoy my home and little by little, they become its visible soul.
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Keep braiding one's wavelengths back into oneself. That way they gain all the more external power and surround us with a huge affective and protective zone. Don't talk about this. Never talk about our secret methods. If we talk about them, they stop working.
Jean Cocteau
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Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
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