Mark Twain? George Carlin? Yul Brynner? Jean Cocteau? Bob Gray? Dilbert? Scott Adams? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Logic and careful reasoning are the ingredients of a constructive argument. Acrimony and irrationality are the elements of a fruitless argument. The celebrated humorist Mark Twain supposedly formulated the following cautionary remark. Here are two versions: (1) …
Category Archives: Jean Cocteau
I Am a Lie That Always Tells the Truth
Jean Cocteau? Pablo Picasso? Herbert V. Prochnow? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The life mission of an artist is paradoxical. Masterpieces are not subservient to narrow facticity. Representing truths and insights requires the imaginative transformation of raw materials. Here are two versions of an energizing maxim for artists: I am a lie that always speaks the …
Art Is a Lie That Makes Us Realize Truth
Pablo Picasso? Jean Cocteau? Dorothy Allison? Henry A. Murray? Peter De Vries? Albert Camus? Julie Burchill? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Art works such as novels, paintings, and sculptures embody a stylized and distorted representation of the world. Yet, deep truths can best be expressed by deviating from the straitjacket of verisimilitude. Here are four versions …
It Is Difficult, After Knowing Opium, To Take Earth Seriously
Jean Cocteau? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent French artist Jean Cocteau crafted the most insightful remark about addiction that I have ever read. Some drugs permanently shift one’s perception of pleasure and purpose in the world. Would you please help me to find Cocteau’s comment about the difficulty of taking the world seriously after …
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One Starts To Get Young at the Age of 60 and Then It’s Too Late
Pablo Picasso? Jean Cocteau? Derek Prouse? Dear Quote Investigator: The proficiency, creativity, and potency of an artist can grow for decades. Yet, painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso apparently said the following about his change in mentality as he became older. Here are two versions: One starts to get young at 60 and then it is …
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A Work of Art Is Never Finished, Merely Abandoned
Paul Valéry? W. H. Auden? Anaïs Nin? Maya Deren? Jean Cocteau? Esther Kellner? Gene Fowler? Gore Vidal? Marianne Moore? George Lucas? Oscar Wilde? Question for Quote Investigator: A creative person who is absorbed with the task of generating an artwork hesitates to declare completion. Reworking and improving a piece is always a tantalizing possibility. Here …
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Quote Origin: I Would Carry Away the Fire
Jean Cocteau? André Fraigneau? Harold Acton? Ned Rorem? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A top literary figure whose home was packed with valuable manuscripts and art objects was once asked to choose a favorite item. A vivid and heartbreaking scenario was proposed by an interviewer. The reply described the perfect salvation: Suppose flames were consuming …
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Quote Origin: First They Ignore You, Then They Laugh at You, Then They Attack You, Then You Win
Mohandas Gandhi? Jean Cocteau? Robbie Williams? Julian Beck? Earl B. Morgan? Tony Benn? Peter D. Jones? Louis Agassiz? Arthur Schopenhauer? Question for Quote Investigator: Mahatma Gandhi famously employed nonviolent strategies during the struggle for Indian independence. A quotation often attributed to him asserts that popular movements pass through four stages: First they ignore you. Then …
A Great Literary Masterpiece Is Only a Dictionary in Disorder
Jean Cocteau? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent French writer Jean Cocteau has been credited with the following humorously skewed definition. Here are three versions: A great literary masterpiece is simply a dictionary in disorder. The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order. Masterpieces of literature are nothing more than the …
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