Jean Cocteau Quotes

People would rather be deceived than have the truth cause them anxiety

People come to music to seek oblivion: is that not also a form of deception?

We are pre-disposed for fantasy, there is a natural impulse for human beings to want to get off their heads or out of their heads in something in a substance or a drink or an idea or a religion which will comfort them and make life exciting.

Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.

A sensitive person is seldom happy with the world the way it is. And since you cannot change it, you think, 'Might as well numb the anguish.' If you're using something to escape reality, then it's something you need to address.

I see myself wrapped in lies, which do not seem to penetrate my soul, as if they are not really a part of me. They are like costumes.

If you don't think you've got the blues, just keep living, and if you don't think you're drunk, just keep drinking what you're drinking.

When I ask Plutarch about his absence, he just shakes his head and says, "He couldnt face it." "Haymitch? Not able to face something? Wanted a day off, more likely," I say. "I think his actual words were 'I couldn't face it without a bottle,'" says Plutarch.

It's possible to pretend I'm someone other than who I am, and if I pretend long enough, I can believe it.

People seek escape in myth by any means at their disposal, including drugs, alcohol, meditation, and lies.

I convinced myself I hadn't seen anything, ... I had done this many times before ... I was adept at erasing reality.

More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life. He is very much the actor

A drinking man's someone who wants to forget he isn't still young an' believing.

Whatever others may say, they say it to deceive and comfort themselves, not help you.

It was what you did, Wolgast understood; you started to tell a story about who you were, and soon enough the lies were all you had and you became that person.

You convinced yourselves we're just a bunch of regular lads who got a bad break in life. Anything else would have cracked your dream open and made you face reality. Illusion is easy. Illusion is the loser's way out. Your way.

I think it became blurry because I grew up in a very private family. I mixed privacy and secrecy up somewhere along the line. Everything became a secret, and I thought that was how you should live. Lying about everything. The mask I put on as a kid to survive was the funny lady. Then the funny person all of a sudden became harder to do without substances. Substances let me keep the mask on longer. Until it doesn't work anymore and you're just a mess.

The mask, given time, comes to be the face itself

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who want to know the facts, and those who want to make up a nice story to feel better. I wish I was the kind who made up stories.

Sometimes you don't want the truth. Sometimes you're like, "Oh just tell me the good answer. I don't want the truth."

Like the ostrich, head under wingWhen the roaring storm breaks,So many people take refugeUnder the soft pillowOf specious arguments.

...but now the worst crime was pretending to be something you were not.

There are so many things that can take over your life: money, alcohol, drugs - even fashion. People hand you things, and you start to believe life is easy. And it's not like that - you're not supposed to be the person you play in the movies.

Wine gave a sort of gallantry to their own failure.

We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.