Jean Cocteau Poetry Quotations

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.

A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.

Poetry is indispensable --if I only knew what for.

I know that poetry is indispensable, but to what I could not say.

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.

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

There are poets and there are grownups.