Jean Cocteau

Croyez-vous qu'on ne puisse prendre le mal d'amour en touchant l'or et la pourpre? Les privilèges dont vous parlez ne sont-ils pas la substance même de Jocaste et si étroitement enchevêtrés à ses organes qu'on ne puisse les désunir. De toute éternité nous appartenions l'un à l'autre. Son ventre cache les plis et replis d'un manteau de pourpre beaucoup plus royal que celui qu'elle agrafe sur ses épaules. Je l'aime, je l'adore, Tirésias, auprès d'elle il me semble que j'occupe enfin ma vraie place;

Si je préfère les chats aux chiens, c'est parce qu'il n'y a pas de chat policier

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

I suppose the artists invented the firm breasts they put on women, and that in reality all women had flabby ones.

Be a constant outrage to modesty There is nothing to fear: modesty is exercised only among the blind.

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

What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end; legends are lies which become history in the end.

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

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

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

Vivre est une chute horizontale

Living is a horizontal fall.

Watch yourself all your life in a mirror and you'll see Death at work like bees in a glass hive.

Statues to great men are made of the stones thrown at them in their lifetime.

What is style? Saying complicated things in a simple way.