"Beauty is always the result of an accident. Of a violent lapse between acquired habits and those yet to be acquired. It baffles and disgusts. It may even horrify. Once the new habit has been acquired, the accident ceases to be an accident. It becomes classical and loses its shock value."

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

"I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places."

— Plutarch

Philosophy

#beauty

"I can’t wear any brand on my body - I just freak out. I mean, if I’m with a girl who’s wearing a Christian Dior necklace, I can’t even fuck her. And then there are those girls - like every girl I seem…"

— Dov Charney

Business1969

#justice

"There’s nothing in common between the East Bengalis and the West Bengalis. Between us and the East Bengalis, on the other hand, there’s religion in com mon. The Partition of 1947 was a very good thin…"

— Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Politics1928–1979

#art

"When you see reference to a new paradigm you should always, under all circumstances, take cover. Because ever since the great tulipmania in 1637, speculation has always been covered by a new paradigm.…"

— John Kenneth Galbraith

Politics1908–2006

#justice