Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteauwas 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 Beastand 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, Albert Gleizes, Igor Stravinsky, Marie Laurencin, María Félix, Édith Piaf, Panama Al Brown, Colette, Jean Genet,...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 July 1889
CityMaisons-Laffitte, France
CountryFrance
Beauty cannot be recognized with a cursory glance.
Man seeks to escape himself in myth, and does so by any means at his disposal. Drugs, alcohol, or lies. Unable to withdraw into himself, he disguises himself. Lies and inaccuracy give him a few moments of comfort.
There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He returns headlong to his beard.
Mirrors would do well to reflect a little more before sending back images.
An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.
Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.
All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.
After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.
A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.
The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.
I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.
The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.
The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.
In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator.