217 Quotes by Anna Akhmatova

All has been looted, betrayed, sold; black death’s wing flashed ahead.

Not, not mine: it’s somebody else’s wound; I could never have borne it. So take the thing that happened, hide it, stick it in the ground; whisk the lamps away.

Now no one will listen to songs. The prophesied days have begun. Latest poem of mine, the world has lost its wonder, Don’t break my heart, don’t ring out.

No foreign sky protected me, no stranger’s wing shielded my face. I stand as witness to the common lot survivor of that time, that place.

I have long had this premonition of a bright day and a deserted house.

Courage: Great Russian word, fit for the songs of our children’s children, pure on their tongues, and free.

Each of our lives is a Shakespearean drama raised to the thousandth degree.

Real tenderness can’t be confused, It’s quiet and can’t be heard.

You do not know just what you’ve been forgiven.