--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: An artist cannot speak about his art any…" description: "\"An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.\" — Jean Cocteau" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b5/jean-cocteau-1181_art_an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any_2090645.jpg" --- # An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant… ![“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.” quote by Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b5/jean-cocteau-1181_art_an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any_2090645.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b5/jean-cocteau-1181_art_an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any_2090645.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b5/jean-cocteau-1181_art_an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any_2090645.jpg) > “An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.” [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Artistic expression is private; comparing it to a plant's inability to discuss horticulture highlights its ineffable nature. **In simple terms:** Art cannot be fully explained in words. Key Takeaway Accept that some experiences are beyond verbal description. Themes creativity communication privacy Mood reflective introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - art criticism - personal reflection - teaching art - public speaking Key Concepts aesthetics ineffability Questions to Reflect On - How do you convey feelings that words fail to capture? - When is silence more powerful than explanation? A Different Perspective Art may still be misunderstood despite its silence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Gardening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardening/) [Plant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plant/) ## Related quotes > [“An artist cannot speak about his art anymore than a plant can discuss horticulture.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-anymore-than-a-plant-can-discuss/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/asking-an-artist-to-talk-about-his-work-is-like-asking-a-plant-to/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I do not know anything about Art with a capital A. What I do know about is my art. Because it concerns me. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-z-danielewski/i-do-not-know-anything-about-art-with-a-capital-a-what-i-do-know/) [Mark Z. Danielewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-z-danielewski/) > [... does it seem to you that it is possible to speak of Art? It would be the same as explaining love!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanora-duse/does-it-seem-to-you-that-it-is-possible-to-speak-of-art-it-would-be/) [Eleanora Duse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanora-duse/) > [Only by pairing knowledge with inspiration will art evolve. Without these conditions any musician will remain a flawed artist, if one may speak of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hector-berlioz/only-by-pairing-knowledge-with-inspiration-will-art-evolve-without/) [Hector Berlioz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hector-berlioz/) > [It is the specialist's task to talk about means, about centimeters. An artist's task is to talk about the goal, about kilometers, thousands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/it-is-the-specialist-s-task-to-talk-about-means-about-centimeters-an/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [ The time-honored role of the artist \[is\] to speak truth to power. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-time-honored-role-of-the-artist-is-to-speak-truth-to-power/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [When we awake it is the animal, the plant, that thinks in us. Primitive thought without the least disguise. We see a terrible universe,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/when-we-awake-it-is-the-animal-the-plant-that-thinks-in-us-primitive/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Love and work are to people what water and sunshine are to plants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/love-and-work-are-to-people-what-water-and-sunshine-are-to-plants/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [To husband is to use with care, to keep, to save, to make last, to conserve. Old usage tells us that there is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/to-husband-is-to-use-with-care-to-keep-to-save-to-make-last-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Plant flowers in others' gardens and your life becomes a bouquet! 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I'll have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-smith/yes-when-i-get-big-and-have-my-own-home-no-plush-chairs-and-lace/) [Betty Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-smith/) > [There was a product on late night TV that you could attach to your garden hose - "You can water your hard-to-reach plants with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-hedberg/there-was-a-product-on-late-night-tv-that-you-could-attach-to-your/) [Mitch Hedberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-hedberg/) > [Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/consideration-is-the-soil-in-which-wisdom-may-be-expected-to-grow-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [ Neither Italian fascism nor German national "socialism" have anything in common with such a \[Soviet socialistic\] society, primarily because private ownership of factories, plants,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-stalin/neither-italian-fascism-nor-german-national-socialism-have-anything/) [Joseph Stalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-stalin/) ## More by Jean Cocteau > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I am happy to exhibit, but not to put myself on exhibition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-am-happy-to-exhibit-but-not-to-put-myself-on-exhibition/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Love is mainly an affair of short spasms. If these spasms disappoint us, love dies. It is very seldom that it weathers the experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/love-is-mainly-an-affair-of-short-spasms-if-these-spasms-disappoint/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-believe-in-luck-how-else-can-you-explain-the-success-of-those-you/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-have-a-piece-of-great-and-sad-news-to-tell-you-i-am-dead/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/fight-any-instinct-to-be-humorless-for-humorlessness-is-the-worst-of/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/lying-is-the-only-art-form-that-the-public-sanctions-and/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-dead-drug-leaves-a-ghost-behind-at-certain-hours-it-haunts-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [“Vivre est une chute horizontale”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/vivre-est-une-chute-horizontale/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I expect a black silence that is almost as violent as laughter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-expect-a-black-silence-that-is-almost-as-violent-as-laughter/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [My method is simple: not to bother about poetry. It must come of its own accord. Merely whispering its name drives it away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/my-method-is-simple-not-to-bother-about-poetry-it-must-come-of-its/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [If a poet has a dream, it is not of becoming famous, but of being believed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/if-a-poet-has-a-dream-it-is-not-of-becoming-famous-but-of-being/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Lack of manners is the sign of a hero.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/lack-of-manners-is-the-sign-of-a-hero/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-the-public-criticizes-in-you-cultivate-it-is-you/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/here-i-am-trying-to-live-or-rather-i-am-trying-to-teach-the-death/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) [Explore all 255 Jean Cocteau quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Cocteau" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any-more-than-a-plant-can/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any-more-than-a-plant-can/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b5/jean-cocteau-1181_art_an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any_2090645.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b5/jean-cocteau-1181_art_an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any_2090645.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b5/jean-cocteau-1181_art_an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any_2090645.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.” — Jean Cocteau", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jean Cocteau", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "An artist cannot speak about his...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any-more-than-a-plant-can/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/an-artist-cannot-speak-about-his-art-any-more-than-a-plant-can/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```