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Quotes from Diary of an Unknown — Jean Cocteau

1889–1963 France

← All quotes by Jean Cocteau

28 quotes

Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Anything of any importance cannot help but be unrecognizable, since it bears no resemblance to anything already known.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Consider metaphysics as an extension of the physical.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Be a constant outrage to modesty There is nothing to fear: modesty is exercised only among the blind.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Allow the power of the soul to grow as flagrant as the power of sex.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Do not fear being ridiculous in relation to the ridiculous.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Disavow anyone who provokes or accepts the extermination of a race to which he does not belong.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Beauty is always the result of an accident. Of a violent lapse between acquired habits and those yet to be acquired.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Know that your work speaks only to those on the same wavelength as you.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Understand that some of your enemies are amongst your best friends.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

He who is affected by an insult is infected by it.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Beauty cannot be recognized with a cursory glance.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Poetry is an ethic. By ethic I mean a secret code of behavior, a discipline constructed and conducted according to the capabilities of a man who rejects the falsifications of the categorical imperative.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

See your disappointments as good fortune. One plan's deflation is another's inflation.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

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.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Do not take up cause against the inaccuracies printed about you. They are your protection.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Do as the beautiful woman: see to your figure and your petticoats. Though, of course, I am not speaking literally.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Expect neither reward nor beatitude. Return noble waves for ignoble.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Compromise yourself. Obscure your own trail.

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Accuracy is vexing to a crowd of would-be fantasizers. Hasn't our age coined the term "escapism," when in fact the only way to escape oneself is to allow oneself to be invaded?

Diary of an Unknown (1988)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Jean Cocteau (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.