Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau, 1889 - 1963
Born: 5 July 1889, Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines, France
Died: 11 October 1963, Milly-la-Foret, France
Born into a wealthy and prominent Parisian family, Cocteau was exposed to music, opera, painting, and literature from his early youth. When he was nine his father committed suicide and he left home at fifteen. His first volume of poetry, Alladin's Lamp was published when he was nineteen. He was known in his Bohemian artistic circle as 'The Frivolous Prince', the name of a volume published when he was 22. During World War I he served as a Red Cross ambulance driver. His world was one of great artistic energy, his friends included Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, Amedeo Modigiliani, Edith Piaf, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Proust, and Erik Satie. Although he considered himself a poet and published over twenty volumes of poetry and a similar amount of poetry critique, he also wrote five novels, twenty plays, scripts for six movies and the dialogue for three more. He also directed ten films. He was addicted to opium for about five years, as related in Opium, Diary of an Addict in 1929. He never married, his known relationships were primarily with women. He died of a heart attack at his chateau, some suggest this was in response to the news that his friend Edith Piaf had died the day before.
Biography from Wikipedia and Authors' Calendar
Additional quotes from Wikiquote. Wikiquote entries are often "sourced" and may include items longer than those included here, particularly for poets, lyricists, and dramatists.
Jean Cocteau quotes:
Quotes found : 90 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 6) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
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- A car can massage organs which no masseur can reach. It is the one remedy for the disorders of the great sympathetic nervous system. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Opium (1929) - A film is a petrified fountain of thought. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Esquire magazine (February 1961) - A man's truest self realizations might require him, above all, to learn to close his eyes: to let himself be taken unawares, to follow his dark angel, to risk his illegal instincts. permalink
Jean Cocteau - A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Le Rappel à l'Ordre [A Call to Order] (1922) - After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter. permalink
Jean Cocteau - On the journal of Franz Kafka; diary entry (7 June 1953) - All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Le Coq et l'Arlequin (1918) - All spiritual journeys are martyrdoms. permalink
Jean Cocteau - An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Newsweek (16 May 1955) - An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Le Coq et l'Arlequin (1918) - Anything of any importance cannot help but be unrecognizable, since it bears no resemblance to anything already known. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Diary of an Unknown (translated by Jesse Browner 1988) - Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Art is not a pastime but a priesthood. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Art is science made clear. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Le Coq et l'Arlequin (1918) - Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Be a constant outrage to modesty There is nothing to fear: modesty is exercised only among the blind. permalink
Jean Cocteau - Diary of an Unknown (translated by Jesse Browner 1988)
Quotes found : 90 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 6) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
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