French - Director | July 5, 1889 - October 11, 1963
An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.
Jean Cocteau
ArtSpeakPlantArtistMoreCannot
The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.
NeverAdmirationPoetHeWants
The ear disapproves but tolerates certain musical pieces; transfer them into the domain of our nose, and we will be forced to flee.
WillPiecesNoseTransferForced
Commissions suit me. They set limits. Jean Marais dared me to write play in which he would not speak in the first act, would weep for joy in the second and in the last would fall backward down a flight of stairs.
JoyMeLimitsSpeakStairsPlay
The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.
SuccessArtRewardBadFameWhy
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?
SuccessLuckBelieveExplainMust
Everything one does in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing toward death. To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving. It is to concern oneself with something other than life or death.
LifeLoveDeathMovingRacingSmoke
I am a lie who always speaks the truth.
TruthLieI AmAlwaysWhoSpeaks
If a hermit lives in a state of ecstasy, his lack of comfort becomes the height of comfort. He must relinquish it.
ComfortHeightMustStateHeHis
It is not I who become addicted, it is my body.
BodyBecomeWhoAddicted
Life is a horizontal fall.
LifeLife Is AFallHorizontal
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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