“My method is simple: not to bother about poetry. It must come of its own accord. Merely whispering its name drives it away.”
— Jean Cocteau
“What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.”
— Jean Cocteau
“The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.”
— Jean Cocteau
“In exiling myself I am not exiling a monster, but a man whom society will not allow to live, since it considers one of the mysterious cogs in God's masterpiece to be a mistake.”
— Jean Cocteau
“A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.”
— Jean Cocteau
“What uniform can I wear to hide my heavy heart? It is too heavy. It will always show. Jacques felt himself growing gloomy again. He was well aware that to live on earth a man must follow its fashions, and hearts were no longer worn.”
— Jean Cocteau
“The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.”
— Jean Cocteau
“Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the same effect of youth and freshness and originality and spontaneity as it did originally, and you have done a poet's job. The rest is literature.”
— Jean Cocteau
“We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?”
— Jean Cocteau
“Be a mere assistant to your unconscious. Do only half the work. The rest will do itself.”
— Jean Cocteau
“I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.”
— Jean Cocteau
“True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.”
— Jean Cocteau
“The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.”
— Jean Cocteau