--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When we awake it is the animal, the…" description: "\"When we awake it is the animal, the plant, that thinks in us. Primitive thought without the least disguise. We see a terrible universe, because we see ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f3/jean-cocteau-1181_animal_when-we-awake-it-is-the-animal-the-plant_256721.jpg" --- # When we awake it is the animal, the plant, that thinks in… ![“When we awake it is the animal, the plant, that thinks in us. Primitive thought without the least disguise. We see a terrible universe, because we see clearly. A little later, intelligence introduces its impeding contrivances. It brings the little toys which man invents in order to hide the void…” quote by Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f3/jean-cocteau-1181_animal_when-we-awake-it-is-the-animal-the-plant_256721.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f3/jean-cocteau-1181_animal_when-we-awake-it-is-the-animal-the-plant_256721.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f3/jean-cocteau-1181_animal_when-we-awake-it-is-the-animal-the-plant_256721.jpg) > “When we awake it is the animal, the plant, that thinks in us. Primitive thought without the least disguise. We see a terrible universe, because we see clearly. A little later, intelligence introduces its impeding contrivances. It brings the little toys which man invents in order to hide the void. It is then that we think we are seeing clearly. We attribute our uneasiness to the miasmas of the brain as it passes from dream to reality.” [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. Human consciousness blends instinctual animal and plant aspects, leading to raw perception that later becomes clouded by intellectual constructs. **In simple terms:** We see clearly at first, then our mind adds layers. Key Takeaway Question how intellect obscures raw perception. Themes philosophy perception human nature mind illusion Mood reflective poetic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - art criticism - personal reflection - psychology - creative writing Key Concepts Consciousness primitive thought intellectualism Questions to Reflect On - Can we ever perceive without mental filters? - What role does language play in shaping reality? A Different Perspective May overgeneralize the role of intellect in all perception. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Disguise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disguise/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Plant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plant/) [Primitive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/primitive/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Seeing Clearly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seeing-clearly/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought/) [Toys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/toys/) [Uneasiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uneasiness/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [Void](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/void/) ## Related quotes > [I think I am seeing more clearly now than ever,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/i-think-i-am-seeing-more-clearly-now-than-ever/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) > [Why have I used the Void-Being terminology? Because in Death, Void, Being, Life and the Bilderberg Group I have written on the fact that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sorin-cerin/why-have-i-used-the-void-being-terminology-because-in-death-void/) [Sorin Cerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sorin-cerin/) > [Everyone has to take Donald Trump seriously, and I think that's what we're seeing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-shields/everyone-has-to-take-donald-trump-seriously-and-i-think-that-s-what/) [Mark Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-shields/) > [There's something about witnessing something in the sky that makes people think they're seeing something unique or special. I don't really understand the psychology…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/there-s-something-about-witnessing-something-in-the-sky-that-makes/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“His mistake was to think that, by seeing objectively, he was seeing the street in its entirety. What he didn't see -- what he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-taylor/his-mistake-was-to-think-that-by-seeing-objectively-he-was-seeing-the/) [Sam Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-taylor/) > [Everybody is of course free to interpret the work in his own way., I think seeing a picture is one thing and interpreting it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-johns/everybody-is-of-course-free-to-interpret-the-work-in-his-own-way-i/) [Jasper Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-johns/) > [We open our eyes and we think we're seeing the whole world out there. But what has become clear—and really just in the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-eagleman/we-open-our-eyes-and-we-think-we-re-seeing-the-whole-world-out-there/) [David Eagleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-eagleman/) > [I'm very observant. I see more than people think I'm seeing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herm-edwards/i-m-very-observant-i-see-more-than-people-think-i-m-seeing/) [Herm Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herm-edwards/) > [I think seeing is about truly looking, observing, and taking things in with an open mind. It's easy to see things at face value…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chloe-wise/i-think-seeing-is-about-truly-looking-observing-and-taking-things-in/) [Chloe Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chloe-wise/) > [“If you imagine someone watching you all the time, even when you think you're alone, seeing every time you make a face, that someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-nayeri/if-you-imagine-someone-watching-you-all-the-time-even-when-you-think/) [Daniel Nayeri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-nayeri/) > [When you think you're seeing something, what you need to find out is, 'Is that true?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-kenny/when-you-think-you-re-seeing-something-what-you-need-to-find-out-is/) Brian Kenny > [“I think it’s from seeing the material summation of his life sitting in ruins. If we are our jobs, our houses, our cars… all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-schow/i-think-it-s-from-seeing-the-material-summation-of-his-life-sitting/) Ryan Schow > [Remember that when you think you are seeing giants, they may not be giants at all; perhaps it is you who is the dwarf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-joybell-c/remember-that-when-you-think-you-are-seeing-giants-they-may-not-be/) [C. JoyBell C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-joybell-c/) > [What are you afraid of then? Not Being able to see, I think not seeing because your obsessed by something that blots out the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eva-ibbotson/what-are-you-afraid-of-then-not-being-able-to-see-i-think-not-seeing/) [Eva Ibbotson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eva-ibbotson/) > [“Seeing is itself touched with elegy. Reality seems to press its light into us, it is happening, but that's not the way things are.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-knighton/seeing-is-itself-touched-with-elegy-reality-seems-to-press-its-light/) [Ryan Knighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-knighton/) ## 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 Animal quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Humans are animals too, but some do not like to work from expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/humans-are-animals-too-but-some-do-not-like-to-work-from-expectations/) Mak\_786 > [When grubbing for necessities man is still an animal. He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/when-grubbing-for-necessities-man-is-still-an-animal-he-becomes/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [I'm 38 and I'm single, and I'm having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. But we all learn about love in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-knapp/i-m-38-and-i-m-single-and-i-m-having-my-most-intense-and-gratifying/) [Caroline Knapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-knapp/) > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/a-horse-a-horse-my-kingdom-for-a-horse/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“it is a federal system of sadistic torture, vivisection, and animal genocide, which has been carried on for decades under the fraudulent guise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-tobias/it-is-a-federal-system-of-sadistic-torture-vivisection-and-animal/) [Michael Tobias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-tobias/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [We must love animals in such a powerful way that we should reject to eat them!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-must-love-animals-in-such-a-powerful-way-that-we-should-reject-to/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“The universe contains any amount of horrible ways to be woken up, such as the noise of the mob breaking down the front door,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/the-universe-contains-any-amount-of-horrible-ways-to-be-woken-up-such/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/this-brings-me-back-to-the-image-of-kafka-standing-before-a-fish-in/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [That dog, I say that dog is lower than a snake full of buckshot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/foghorn-leghorn/that-dog-i-say-that-dog-is-lower-than-a-snake-full-of-buckshot/) [Foghorn Leghorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/foghorn-leghorn/) > [I bet plants go like 'Weeeeeeeee!' whenever they're swallowed by a giraffe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-plants-go-like-weeeeeeeee-whenever-they-re-swallowed-by-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Animal rights without veganism is like human rights with slavery. It makes no sense. None whatsoever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-l-francione/animal-rights-without-veganism-is-like-human-rights-with-slavery-it/) [Gary L. Francione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-l-francione/) [Browse all 13,456 Animal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When we awake it is the animal, the plant, that thinks in us. Primitive thought without the least disguise. We see a terrible universe, because we see clearly. A little later, intelligence introduces its impeding contrivances. It brings the little toys which man invents in order to hide the void. It is then that we think we are seeing clearly. 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