For the poet the credo or doctrine is not the point of arrival but is, on the contrary, the point of departure for the metaphysical journey.
Category Archive: Joseph Brodsky
The real history of consciousness starts with one’s first lie.
It would be enough for me to have the system of a jury of twelve versus the system of one judge as a basis for preferring the U.S. to the Soviet Union. I would prefer the country you can leave to the country you cannot.
How delightful to find a friend in everyone.
Who included me among the ranks of the human race?
The poetic notion of infinity is far greater than that which is sponsored by any creed.
A language is a more ancient and inevitable thing than any state.
For a writer only one form of patriotism exists: his attitude toward language.
Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.
Life – the way it really is – is a battle not between Bad and Good but between Bad and Worse.