 The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed. |
| It is not I who become addicted, it is my body. |
| There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He returns headlong to his beard. |
| Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying. |
| We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? |
| True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing. |
| The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up. |
| I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike? |
| If a hermit lives in a state of ecstasy, his lack of comfort becomes the height of comfort. He must relinquish it. |
| The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth. |
| The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood. |
| The extreme limit of wisdom, that's what the public calls madness. |
| One must be a living man and a posthumous artist. |
| Commissions suit me. They set limits. Jean Marais dared me to write play in which he would not speak in the first act, would weep for joy in the second and in the last would fall backward down a flight of stairs. |
| Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper. |
| Art is not a pastime but a priesthood. |
| Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture. |
| An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture. |
