--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Tact in audacity is knowing how far you…" description: "\"Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.\" — Jean Cocteau" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/jean-cocteau-1181_audacity_tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you_2173632.jpg" --- # Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without… ![“Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.” quote by Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/jean-cocteau-1181_audacity_tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you_2173632.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/jean-cocteau-1181_audacity_tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you_2173632.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/jean-cocteau-1181_audacity_tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you_2173632.jpg) > “Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.” [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. Balancing boldness with restraint, knowing limits before overstepping. **In simple terms:** Boldness needs limits. Key Takeaway Know your limits before acting. Themes courage restraint self‑awareness Mood thoughtful cautious Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - leadership - negotiation - personal growth Key Concepts boundary setting social intelligence Questions to Reflect On - When have you pushed too far? - How can you test limits safely? A Different Perspective Too much audacity can alienate allies. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Audacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audacity/) [Audacity Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audacity-knowing-4665267/) [Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing/) [Knowing Far](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-far-2605554/) [Tact](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tact/) [Tact Audacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tact-audacity-4665266/) [Too far](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-far/) ## Related quotes > [The art of genius is knowing how far out is too far.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-art-of-genius-is-knowing-how-far-out-is-too-far/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [To be audacious with tact, you have to know to what point you can go too far.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/to-be-audacious-with-tact-you-have-to-know-to-what-point-you-can-go/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [What I learned from Mel Brooks was audacity - in performance as in life. Maybe you go too far, but try it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-wilder/what-i-learned-from-mel-brooks-was-audacity-in-performance-as-in-life/) [Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-wilder/) > [Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wes-fesler/hypocrisy-is-the-audacity-to-preach-integrity-from-a-den-of-corruption/) [Wes Fesler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wes-fesler/) > [God beckons storm clouds and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-platt/god-beckons-storm-clouds-and-they-come-he-tells-the-wind-to-blow-and/) [David Platt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-platt/) > [“I had artistic classical training, and when you learn the classics for so many years, you might gain audacity, power and confidence to subvert…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nuno-roque/i-had-artistic-classical-training-and-when-you-learn-the-classics-for/) [Nuno Roque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nuno-roque/) > [“The audacity of my sagacity is instrumentality to my successity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/the-audacity-of-my-sagacity-is-instrumentality-to-my-successity/) [Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/) > [“How can you have memories if you don't have the audacity to create them?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-wunder/how-can-you-have-memories-if-you-don-t-have-the-audacity-to-create/) [Wendy Wunder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-wunder/) > [Anything can happen: anything. Or nothing. Who can say? The world, monstrous, is made that way, and in the end consumes us all. Who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-evenson/anything-can-happen-anything-or-nothing-who-can-say-the-world/) [Brian Evenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-evenson/) > [What price would God demand from the churches for having the audacity to lighten the color of his son's skin, and straighten out his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-gregory/what-price-would-god-demand-from-the-churches-for-having-the-audacity/) [Dick Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-gregory/) > [“She was fierce in the presence of death, heroic even, as she was at no other time. Its threat gave her direction, clarity, audacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/she-was-fierce-in-the-presence-of-death-heroic-even-as-she-was-at-no/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [To reinvent your own country you need a great audacity of hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/to-reinvent-your-own-country-you-need-a-great-audacity-of-hope/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/few-men-realize-that-their-life-the-very-essence-of-their-character/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Between an Error and a Lie, there are Worlds – an Error is an unintended Mistake, a Lie is an intentional Audacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sino-melo/between-an-error-and-a-lie-there-are-worlds-an-error-is-an-unintended/) [Sino Melo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sino-melo/) > [All too often, it is audacity and not talent that moves an artist to center stage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-cameron/all-too-often-it-is-audacity-and-not-talent-that-moves-an-artist-to/) [Julia Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-cameron/) ## 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 Audacity quotes > [All too often, it is audacity and not talent that moves an artist to center stage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-cameron/all-too-often-it-is-audacity-and-not-talent-that-moves-an-artist-to/) [Julia Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-cameron/) > [“Between an Error and a Lie, there are Worlds – an Error is an unintended Mistake, a Lie is an intentional Audacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sino-melo/between-an-error-and-a-lie-there-are-worlds-an-error-is-an-unintended/) [Sino Melo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sino-melo/) > [Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/few-men-realize-that-their-life-the-very-essence-of-their-character/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [To reinvent your own country you need a great audacity of hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/to-reinvent-your-own-country-you-need-a-great-audacity-of-hope/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [“She was fierce in the presence of death, heroic even, as she was at no other time. Its threat gave her direction, clarity, audacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/she-was-fierce-in-the-presence-of-death-heroic-even-as-she-was-at-no/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [What price would God demand from the churches for having the audacity to lighten the color of his son's skin, and straighten out his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-gregory/what-price-would-god-demand-from-the-churches-for-having-the-audacity/) [Dick Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-gregory/) > [Anything can happen: anything. Or nothing. Who can say? The world, monstrous, is made that way, and in the end consumes us all. Who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-evenson/anything-can-happen-anything-or-nothing-who-can-say-the-world/) [Brian Evenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-evenson/) > [“How can you have memories if you don't have the audacity to create them?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-wunder/how-can-you-have-memories-if-you-don-t-have-the-audacity-to-create/) [Wendy Wunder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-wunder/) > [“The audacity of my sagacity is instrumentality to my successity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/the-audacity-of-my-sagacity-is-instrumentality-to-my-successity/) [Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/) > [“I had artistic classical training, and when you learn the classics for so many years, you might gain audacity, power and confidence to subvert…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nuno-roque/i-had-artistic-classical-training-and-when-you-learn-the-classics-for/) [Nuno Roque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nuno-roque/) > [God beckons storm clouds and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-platt/god-beckons-storm-clouds-and-they-come-he-tells-the-wind-to-blow-and/) [David Platt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-platt/) > [Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wes-fesler/hypocrisy-is-the-audacity-to-preach-integrity-from-a-den-of-corruption/) [Wes Fesler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wes-fesler/) > [I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/i-have-the-audacity-to-believe-that-peoples-everywhere-can-have-three/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [The difference between a vision and a daydream is the audacity to act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-furtick/the-difference-between-a-vision-and-a-daydream-is-the-audacity-to-act/) [Steven Furtick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-furtick/) > [“Whether personal or organizational, building capacity to effectively deal with change creates resilience, and without exceptional resilience there is no antifragility.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-spitz/whether-personal-or-organizational-building-capacity-to-effectively/) [Roger Spitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-spitz/) [Browse all 193 Audacity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audacity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Cocteau" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you-can-go-without-going-too-far/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Audacity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you-can-go-without-going-too-far/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/jean-cocteau-1181_audacity_tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you_2173632.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/jean-cocteau-1181_audacity_tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you_2173632.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4c/jean-cocteau-1181_audacity_tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you_2173632.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.” — 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": "Tact in audacity is knowing how...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you-can-go-without-going-too-far/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/tact-in-audacity-is-knowing-how-far-you-can-go-without-going-too-far/#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 } } ] } ```