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The ultimate politeness in art consists of speaking only to those who are able to uncover and measure its relationships. Anything else is symbolic, and symbolism is merely transcendental imagery.
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
Merely
Transcendental
Ultimate
Politeness
Art
Imagery
Else
Symbolic
Anything
Consists
Able
Measure
Speaking
Uncover
Relationships
Symbolism
More quotes by Jean Cocteau
Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.
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The hot hall full of painted girls and American soldiers is a saloon in some Western film. This noise drenches us, wakens us to do something else. It shows us a lost path.
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The art of genius is knowing how far out is too far.
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I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.
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The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.
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Every day in the mirror I watch death at work.
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The audience bursts into laughter. With the tragic gag I don't expect the audience to laugh (if they do, I have failed) but I expect a black silence from them that is almost as violent: as laughter.
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Anything of any importance cannot help but be unrecognizable, since it bears no resemblance to anything already known.
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French people are Italian people in a bad mood.
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Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself.
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Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
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Understand that some of your enemies are amongst your best friends.
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Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.
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Compromise yourself. Obscure your own trail.
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The poet doesn't invent. He listens.
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The poet is at the disposal of the night. His role is humble, he must clean house and await its due visitation.
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The ability to laugh heartily is the sign of a healthy soul.
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It is not I who become addicted, it is my body.
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A prig always finds a last refuge in responsibility.
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One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends.
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