Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

Jean Cocteau Novelist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: France
  • Born: Jul 5, 1889
  • Died: Oct 11, 1963

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French writer, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. Cocteau is best known for his novel Les Enfants Terribles, and the films Blood of a Poet, Les Parents Terribles, Beauty and the Beast and Orpheus. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Yul Brynner, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, María Félix, Édith Piaf, Panama Al Brown, Colette and Raymond Radiguet.

Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious. art & marriage

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

I am a lie who always speaks the truth. truth

Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live. death

I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead. sadness

A film is a petrified fountain of thought. movies

You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive. death

The poet doesn't invent. He listens. poetry

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth. poetry & truth

The extreme limit of wisdom, that's what the public calls madness. wisdom

All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it. being good & music

A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses. poetry

An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture. art

Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for. poetry

Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie. poetry

After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter. death

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

I love cats because I enjoy my home and little by little, they become its visible soul. home, love & pets

Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying. death

We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? success

The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up. art & success

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

The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying. death

Art is not a pastime but a priesthood. art

St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2025

There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting. 3 quotes from John Millington Synge

3 quotes from John Millington Synge

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. 28 quotes from William Butler Yeats

28 quotes from William Butler Yeats

Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep. 27 more wisdom & wit from Dave Barry

27 more wisdom & wit from Dave Barry

We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English. 74 quotes from Winston Churchill

74 quotes from Winston Churchill