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Jean Cocteau Quotes

Poet

Jean Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, and painter, renowned for his unique literary style and artistic achievements. Born on July 5, 1889, and passing away on October 11, 1963, Cocteau's work spanned poetry, drama, fiction, and painting. His creations often blended dreams and reality, profoundly influencing French literature and art in the 20th century.

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Famous Jean Cocteau Quotes

“The job of the poet (a job which can't be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.”

World Giving Art Soul Jobs Poetry Force Position Objects Poet Habit Dues Strikes Invisible Visible Tragic Unusual Glue

Author:Jean Cocteau

“Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself.”

World

Author:Jean Cocteau

“The world owes its enchantment to these curious creatures and their fancies; but its multiple complicity rejects them. Thistledown spirits, tragic, heartrending in their evanescence, they must go blowing headlong to perdition.”

World Spirit Creatures Curious Fancy Tragic Rejects Multiple Enchantment Complicity Perdition Evanescence

Book:The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)

Source: The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)

“The smell of opium is the least stupid smell in the world.”

World Stupid Drug Smell Opium

Book:Opium: The Diary of an Addict

Source: Opium: The Diary of an Addict

“At all costs the true world of childhood must prevail, must be restored; that world whose momentous, heroic, mysterious quality is fed on airy nothings, whose substance is so ill-fitted to withstand the brutal touch of adult inquisition.”

World Quality Childhood Cost Adults Ill Mysterious Substance Feds Heroic Brutal Inquisition Airy

Book:The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)

Source: The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)

“He has the manner of a giant with the look of a child, a lazy activeness, a mad wisdom, a solitude encompassing the world.”

World Looks Children Solitude Mad Giants Lazy

Author:Jean Cocteau

About the Author

Born: July 5, 1889
Died: October 11, 1963
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 231

Books & Sources

Opium: The Illustrated Diary of His CureRelated source material

Cocteau's world: an anthology of writingsRelated source material

The Difficulty of BeingRelated source material

A call to order: written between the years 1918 and 1926 and including Cock and harlequin, Professional secrets, and other critical essaysRelated source material

Past tense: diariesRelated source material

The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)Related source material

A Call to Order, Written Between the Years 1918 and 1926 and IncludingRelated source material

The Infernal Machine: And Other PlaysRelated source material

The journals of Jean CocteauRelated source material

BarbetteRelated source material

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