Jean Cocteau Quotes about Art

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

The artist is a kind of prison from which the works of art escape.

Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.

Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality.

Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.

Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.

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.

The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.

Art is science in the flesh.

Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.

Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.

Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for.

A film is a petrified fountain of thought.

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizarre which seems inherent in them.

Art is science made flesh.

The art of genius is knowing how far out is too far.

The ultimate politeness in art consists of speaking only to those who are able to uncover and measure its relationships. Anything else is symbolic, and symbolism is merely transcendental imagery.

Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not obtained by sentimental blackmail.

Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time.

The only work of art which succeeds is that which fails.

The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.

One must be a living man and a posthumous artist.

Look out! Be on your guard, because alone of all the arts, music moves all around you.