Jean Cocteau

Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what’s known as infinity.

I succeeded in bewitching a fair number and in being intoxicated with my mistakes.

What uniform can I wear to hide my heavy heart?
It is too heavy. It will always show

Je sais que la poésie est indispensable, mais je ne sais pas à quoi.

Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.

« Un beau livre, c'est celui qui sème à foison les points d'interrogation. »

It is dangerous not to conform with people's image of us, because they do not readily retract their opinions.

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

The prettiest dresses are worn to be taken off.

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

Beauty cannot be recognized with a cursory glance.

All spiritual journeys are martyrdoms

Last month, coming out of the Rue d'Athènes, where they were showing Le Sang d'un Poète, I told Gide that I couldn't bear to see the film again because each shot is so slow. He replied that I was wrong, that this slowness was a rhythm, and that these slow shots coming one after another formed a special tempo, my tempo, a procedure of my own.
No doubt he's right, and it would be dangerous to upset a rhythm that comes from within oneself, through fear of this rhythm, and to impose another, artificial, one which would not suit it.

Les miroirs feraient bien de réfléchir un peu plus avant de renvoyer les images.