"In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator."

Jean Cocteau Literature See all quotes by Jean Cocteau →

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“Art is science made clear.”

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

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

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

“Poetry is indispensable — if I only knew what for.”

“Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.”

Resonant Thoughts

"When the state says, "Whip up hysteria against the," everybody starts yelling, jumping up and down, and screaming about the evil empire... See, if it happened in, say, Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union…"

— Noam Chomsky

Philosophy1928

#truth

"The painter leaves his mark. And I just put in two statues in Rhode Island that I'm working on. And I think that's going to make me last longer than me. I mean, who remembers "Zorba?" Nobody remembers…"

— Anthony Quinn

Entertainment1915–2001

#justice

"So I think all gays who are born gay are overwhelming conservative, maybe apolitical, and all those angry gays, causing trouble for everybody, I don't think they were born gay. I think they are just a…"

— Ann Coulter

Literature1961

#life

"Mankind is becoming more ethical, but it is not happening because man has decided to become better than he was 100 years ago. It’s because we know we live in a glass house where everybody can see."

— Brunello Cucinelli

Philosophy1953

#knowledge