Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping. Jean Cocteau More Quotes by Jean Cocteau More Quotes From Jean Cocteau I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul. Jean Cocteau catdoghome Mirrors should think longer before they reflect. Jean Cocteau mirrorsappearancethinking Style is a simple way of saying complicated things. Jean Cocteau stylefashionsimple We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel. Jean Cocteau shelterguardianangel An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture. Jean Cocteau plantspeakart Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts. Jean Cocteau past-present-futurewhat-mattersearth Living is a horizontal fall. Jean Cocteau horizontalfall Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying. Jean Cocteau ugly-thingsdyingdeath If a poet has a dream, it is not of becoming famous, but of being believed. Jean Cocteau becomingpoetdream The prettiest dresses are worn to be taken off. Jean Cocteau hilarioussexyfunny Poetry is a religion without hope. The poet exhausts himself in its service, knowing that, in the long run, a masterpiece is nothing but the performance of a trained dog on very shaky ground. Jean Cocteau knowingdogrunning Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious. Jean Cocteau art-isconsciousart I only fear the death of others. For me, true death is that of the people I love Jean Cocteau people You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive. Jean Cocteau glassesmirrorsadvice We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? Jean Cocteau wittyinspirationalfunny Everything one does in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing toward death. To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving. It is to concern oneself with something other than life or death. Jean Cocteau druglovemoving I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves. Jean Cocteau veinswavelanguage The eyes of the dead are closed gently; we also have to open gently the eyes of the living. Jean Cocteau eyeteaching An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original. Jean Cocteau original-artartistorder Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality. Jean Cocteau lyingrealityart
