Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.

Cocteau’s aphorism is typically encountered in English-language quotation collections as a standalone maxim rather than tied to a clearly cited speech or dated occasion. It fits the mode of his epigrammatic remarks on art, perception, and self-knowledge—ideas he returned to across notebooks, prefaces, and short reflective texts. The “mirror” image resonates with early-20th-century modernist concerns about representation: whether art (or a person) merely reproduces appearances or transforms them through thought. In that sense, the line is often read as Cocteau commenting on the responsibilities of artists, critics, and even ordinary observers to process what they see rather than reflexively “throw it back.”

Cocteau’s aphorism treats the mirror as a metaphor for the mind, the artist, or any person who responds to the world. Rather than instantly “throwing back” what it receives—whether as opinion, judgment, imitation, or mere reproduction—the mirror ought to “reflect” in the sense of thinking first. The line suggests that perception and response should be mediated by contemplation, transforming raw impressions into insight. It also hints at an aesthetic credo: art should not be a simple copy of reality but a considered transmutation of it. In social terms, it advocates tact and self-scrutiny before reacting, implying that immediacy can be shallow while reflection can be humane and creative.