The ear disapproves but tolerates certain musical pieces; transfer them into the domain of our nose, and we will be forced to flee.
Jean CocteauRead
Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the contrast between the naive straightforwardness of children and lunatics and the complex, often convoluted process poets undergo to understand life.
In this quote, Jean Cocteau suggests that while children and those deemed 'lunatics' can easily make sense of life's complexities, often through creative or unconventional means, poets spend their lives delicately unraveling the intricate threads of existence. This speaks to the notion that creativity and insight can sometimes come from a place of simplicity or madness, contrasting with the laborious and thoughtful analysis that is typically associated with artistic endeavors.
Themes
ChildrenLunaticsPoetryLifeComplexitySimplicity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the nature of creativity in a classroom setting.
More from Jean Cocteau
All quotes βOne must be a living man and a posthumous artist.
Jean CocteauRead
All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.
Jean CocteauRead
Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
Jean CocteauRead
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 CocteauRead
Watch yourself all your life in a mirror and you'll see Death at work like bees in a glass hive.
Jean CocteauRead
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It is more than probable that I am not understood; but I fear, indeed, that it is in no manner possible to convey to the mind of the merely general reader, an adequate idea of that nervous intensity of interest with which, in my case, the powers of meditation (not to speak technically) busied and buried themselves, in the contemplation of even the most ordinary objects of the universe.
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