"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."

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

"Buddhists speak of learning to see the world with “beginner’s mind,” and that’s precisely what you have to do every semester: begin again, from scratch, knowing that anything can happen — seeing those…"

— Michael Bérubé

Literature1961

#knowledge

"It is normal that I have done something significant and so have other artists. I have taken my work in such a way that it has been a success. But that is not the only thing which matters you see...it'…"

— S. H. Raza

Art1922–2016

#art

"My job is to save the fucking wilderness. I don't know anything else worth saving."

— Edward Abbey

Literature1927–1989

#knowledge

"The Indian and Western elite did not regard any of Nehru’s successors as ‘thinking’ leaders. Indira Gandhi tried hard to win over India’s intellectual elite, but the Emergency broke a nascent link. Wh…"

— P. V. Narasimha Rao

Politics1921–2004

#success