Jean Cocteau Quotes

“I only fear the death of others. For me, true death is that of the people I love”
― Jean Cocteau

“The poet, by composing poems, uses a language that is neither dead nor living, that few people speak, and few people understand … We are the servants of an unknown force that lives within us, manipulates us, and dictates this language to us.”
― Jean Cocteau

“Čudo, ako potraje, prestaje da bude čudo.Zato priviđenja tako brzo i nestaju.”
― Jean Cocteau, Thomas the Impostor

“Je sais que la poésie est indispensable, mais je ne sais pas à quoi.”
― Jean Cocteau

“Il y a dans le dessin une très grande jouissance. L'écriture, c'est le dessin noué autrement. (...) Et quand je dessine, j'écris, et, peut-être, que quand j'ecris, je dessine.”
― Jean Cocteau

“All the same, persons who base their calculations on the inexorable pressure of the force of circumstance assume, correctly, that such lives are doomed.

The world owes its enchantment to these curious creatures and their fancies, but its multiple complicity rejects them. Thistledown spirits, tragic, heart-rending in their evanescence, they must go blowing headlong to perdition.”
― Jean Cocteau, The Holy Terrors

“Mi casa se estaba quemando y sólo podía salvar una cosa.
Decidí salvar el fuego.
No tengo dónde vivir pero el fuego vive en mí.
Y me defiende discretamente de todo lo impuro.
Mi futuro ya no es importante.
Sólo cuenta la intensidad del instante.”
― Jean Cocteau

“It is sometimes helpful for the magickian to stand the world on its head. This helps to bring forth the Hidden Reality. The magickian is always seeking to go beyond Surface Reality. Therefore, many great magickians will deliberately work for the opposite of that which they wish to manifest, knowing that the mind is a trickster and when you ask it for one thing, it will often give you the exact opposite of what you want. Jean Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, playwright, artist and filmmaker. Along with other avant-garde artists of his generation, Cocteau grappled with the algebra of verbal codes old and new. He revealed 'I am a lie who always speaks the truth.' This is why it is so important to get rid of any raw needs, demands, and insistence within you.”
― Laurence Galian, Beyond Duality: The Art of Transcendence