--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The poet is a liar who always speaks the…" description: "\"The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.\" — Jean Cocteau" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33a/jean-cocteau-1181_poet_the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the_1493431.jpg" --- # The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth. ![“The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” quote by Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33a/jean-cocteau-1181_poet_the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the_1493431.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33a/jean-cocteau-1181_poet_the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the_1493431.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33a/jean-cocteau-1181_poet_the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the_1493431.jpg) > “The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” [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. Poets use falsehoods to reveal deeper truths. **In simple terms:** Lies can convey truth. Key Takeaway Embrace paradox in expression. Themes poetry truth deception art paradox Mood mysterious thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing - teaching - public speaking Key Concepts literature philosophy symbolism Questions to Reflect On - How does a lie enhance truth? - When is deception artistic? A Different Perspective Audience may misinterpret deception. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Liar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liar/) [Liar Speaks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liar-speaks-5460080/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poet Liar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet-liar-5205081/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Speaks Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speaks-truth/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Somewhere deep down in my heart, there's a poet, and a liar. They are juxtaposed more than the sun and the moon, yet they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saywecanfly/somewhere-deep-down-in-my-heart-there-s-a-poet-and-a-liar-they-are/) [SayWeCanFly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saywecanfly/) > [IMAGINATION, n. A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/imagination-n-a-warehouse-of-facts-with-poet-and-liar-in-joint/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [I am a lie who always speaks the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-am-a-lie-who-always-speaks-the-truth/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [“I am a lie that always speaks the truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-am-a-lie-that-always-speaks-the-truth/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Who speaks the truth stabs falsehood to the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/who-speaks-the-truth-stabs-falsehood-to-the-heart/) [James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/) > [“People follow a person who they feel “speaks the Truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annette-simmons/people-follow-a-person-who-they-feel-speaks-the-truth/) [Annette Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annette-simmons/) > [ “The art that speaks \[truth\] most unmistakably, most directly, most variously, most fully, is fiction.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/the-art-that-speaks-truth-most-unmistakably-most-directly-most/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [Nobody speaks the truth when there's something they must have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/nobody-speaks-the-truth-when-there-s-something-they-must-have/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [When affection only speaks, truth is not always there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-middleton/when-affection-only-speaks-truth-is-not-always-there/) [Thomas Middleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-middleton/) > [Someone who is elated with wine speaks the truth on all subjects, even without meaning to. In the same way, anyone who is inebriated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-climacus/someone-who-is-elated-with-wine-speaks-the-truth-on-all-subjects-even/) [John Climacus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-climacus/) > [We may well be the ones Proverbs warns when it reminds us: "Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-d-chittister/we-may-well-be-the-ones-proverbs-warns-when-it-reminds-us-kings-take/) [Joan D. Chittister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-d-chittister/) > [It speaks truth when you listen to Bob Marley.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rohan-marley/it-speaks-truth-when-you-listen-to-bob-marley/) [Rohan Marley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rohan-marley/) > [“What should be brought explicitly to the forefront here is the manner in which God speaks truth, namely, through the idioms, attitudes, assumptions, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zondervan-publishing/what-should-be-brought-explicitly-to-the-forefront-here-is-the-manner/) [Zondervan Publishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zondervan-publishing/) > [“LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-smith-pegues/lord-who-may-dwell-in-your-sanctuary-who-may-live-on-your-holy-hill/) [Deborah Smith Pegues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-smith-pegues/) > [“It's a far greater friend, one who speaks the truth despite risk of retribution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawn-jayne/it-s-a-far-greater-friend-one-who-speaks-the-truth-despite-risk-of/) [Dawn Jayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawn-jayne/) ## 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 Liar quotes > [I just speak the truth. I keep it real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlon-vera/i-just-speak-the-truth-i-keep-it-real/) [Marlon Vera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlon-vera/) > [Everybody is always like, 'You must be a really good liar,' and no, I'm actually a truth teller, and I'm telling someone else's truth.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-sweeney/everybody-is-always-like-you-must-be-a-really-good-liar-and-no-i-m/) [Sydney Sweeney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-sweeney/) > [Even a liar tells a hundred truths to one lie; he has to, to make the lie good for anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/even-a-liar-tells-a-hundred-truths-to-one-lie-he-has-to-to-make-the/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [A liar freely gives his oath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-malloch/a-liar-freely-gives-his-oath/) [Douglas Malloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-malloch/) > [My whole life has been a lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-darin/my-whole-life-has-been-a-lie/) [Bobby Darin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-darin/) > [I think you are a liar because you think you know what is true. You think you feel what is true. But you do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-croggon/i-think-you-are-a-liar-because-you-think-you-know-what-is-true-you/) [Alison Croggon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-croggon/) > [“The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places. (p 57)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/the-world-is-not-fair-and-often-fools-cowards-liars-and-the-selfish/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [I love country music because it's honest - and I'm a terrible liar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maddie-marlow/i-love-country-music-because-it-s-honest-and-i-m-a-terrible-liar/) [Maddie Marlow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maddie-marlow/) > [“I ripped the sketch from the wall. "Liar." Edward looked more ravaged than usual. "That is a terrible word, coming from you." "Yup." "And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-jensen/i-ripped-the-sketch-from-the-wall-liar-edward-looked-more-ravaged/) [Melissa Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-jensen/) > [“I wasn't sure which was worse - to know you were a liar or to believe your own bullshit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-cook/i-wasn-t-sure-which-was-worse-to-know-you-were-a-liar-or-to-believe/) [Eileen Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-cook/) > [I don't want to lie. Always, I want to be honest and I say,I don't think about tomorrow. I don't think about next season.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mauricio-pochettino/i-don-t-want-to-lie-always-i-want-to-be-honest-and-i-say-i-don-t/) [Mauricio Pochettino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mauricio-pochettino/) > [I can't lie. Even if they think I'm wrong. Even if they don't understand. Even if they think I'm crazy. I'm me. They're supposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-can-t-lie-even-if-they-think-i-m-wrong-even-if-they-don-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [That's good; don't deny it. Denying the undeniable just makes you sound like a fool as well as a liar. In this profession, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ally-carter/that-s-good-don-t-deny-it-denying-the-undeniable-just-makes-you-sound/) [Ally Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ally-carter/) > [And I, love, am a pathological liar,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/and-i-love-am-a-pathological-liar/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [Im starting to feel as though I should give up now to not risk what we have. keep silent what I want to speak.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaliyah-owens/im-starting-to-feel-as-though-i-should-give-up-now-to-not-risk-what/) [Aaliyah Owens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaliyah-owens/) [Browse all 1,187 Liar quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liar/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Cocteau" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the-truth/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Liar" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the-truth/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33a/jean-cocteau-1181_poet_the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the_1493431.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33a/jean-cocteau-1181_poet_the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the_1493431.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33a/jean-cocteau-1181_poet_the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the_1493431.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” — 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": "The poet is a liar who...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the-truth/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-poet-is-a-liar-who-always-speaks-the-truth/#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 } } ] } ```