Quote by Jean Cocteau

What is line? It is life. A line must live at each point along its course in such a way that the artist's presence makes itself felt above that of the model. With the writer, line takes precedence over form and content. It runs through the words he assembles. It strikes a continuous note unperceived by ear or eye. It is, in a way, the soul's style, and if the line ceases to have a life of its own, if it only describes an arabesque, the soul is missing and the writing dies.

What is line? It is life. A line must live at each point alo

Summary

This quote highlights the significance of line in artistic expression, whether it be in visual arts or literature. The line is metaphorically equated with life, and the artist's presence should be felt within each point along its course. In writing, the line takes precedence over the form and content of the words, creating a continuous and subtle essence that is not immediately noticeable. It is referred to as the soul's style, and if the line loses its vitality, merely becoming a decorative pattern, the soul and essence of the work diminishes, ultimately leading to the death of the writing.

Topics

Style

By Jean Cocteau

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

What are imitation rhinestones?

What are imitation rhinestones?

Humor Funny

There are people who want to make men's lives more difficult

There are people who want to make men's lives more difficult for no other reason than the chance it provides them afterwards to offer their prescription for alleviating life; their Christianity, for instance.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Men Life

Dear one reading this, Please know that you are worth more t

Dear one reading this, Please know that you are worth more than you could ever understand. Your purpose is so profound that the whole world will begin a fresh type of healing as you accomplish it. The truth is your sleeping breath moves the air for all eternity and there is nothing untouched by your existence. Imagine the impact of your words your actions. You are already changing the world. Please. I beg you. Realize this: You are already changing the world.

Value Inspirational Worth Encouragement Flyleaf Mosley Nicole

I have often argued that a poet more than thirty years old i

I have often argued that a poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child. I begin to suspect that there may be some truth in it.

Truth

It's a damn shame we have this immediate ticking off in the

It's a damn shame we have this immediate ticking off in the mind about how people sound. On the other hand, how many people really want to be operated upon by a surgeon who talks broad cockney?

Conversation

I always was very interested in intellect and the massive wo

I always was very interested in intellect and the massive world of knowledge out there, but in terms of being a kid who wanted to be treated as an equal, school is not the place.

Knowledge

You're water. We're the millstone.You're wind. We're dust bl

You're water. We're the millstone.You're wind. We're dust blown up into shapes.You're spirit. We're the opening and closing of our hands. You're the clarity.We're the language that tries to say it.You're joy. We're all the different kinds of laughing.

Inspirational

Allowing children to show their guilt, show their grief, sho

Allowing children to show their guilt, show their grief, show their anger, takes the sting out of the situation.

Anger

Faulkner is a writer who has had much to do with my soul, bu

Faulkner is a writer who has had much to do with my soul, but Hemingway is the one who had the most to do with my craft - not simply for his books, but for his astounding knowledge of the aspect of craftsmanship in the science of writing.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Knowledge

I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me. A

I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me. And it has nothing to do with what I look like really, it is just that I gave myself the power to say that I am beautiful, and if I could do that, maybe there is hope for them too. And the great divide between the beautiful and the ugly will cease to be. Because we are all what we choose.

Beauty Self Love Margaret Cho

Death unites as well as separates it silences all paltry fee

Death unites as well as separates it silences all paltry feeling.

Honore de Balzac

Death

If, before going to bed every night, you will tear a page fr

If, before going to bed every night, you will tear a page from the calendar, and remark, there goes another day of my life, never to return, you will become time conscious.

A. B. Zu Tavern

Time