323 Quotes by Joseph Brodsky

"Ah, how much more soothing(that is to say, if one should get the choice)to be wiped off the earth by hell-bound fiendsthan by neurotics."

"Because every book of art, be it a poem or a cupola, is understandably a self-portrait of its author, we won't strain ourselves too hard trying to distinguish between the author's persona and the poem's lyrical hero. As a rule, such distinctions are quite meaningless, if only because a lyrical hero is invariably an author's self-projection."

"In the end, there's always this city. As long as it exists, I don't believe that I, or for that matter, anyone, can be mesmerized or blinded by romantic tragedy."

"Like the mouse creeping out of the scarlet crack,the sunset gnaws hungrily the electriccheese of the outskirts, erectedby those who clearly trust their knackfor surviving everything: by termites.Warehouses, surgeries. Having measuredthere the proximity of the desert,the cinnamon-tinted earth waylays itshorizontality in the fakepyramids, porticoes, rooftops' ripple,as the train creeps knowingly, like a snake,to the capital's only nipple."

"The Last Judgement is the Last Judgement, but a human being who spent his life in Russia, has to be, without any hesitation, placed into Paradise."

"Nothing reveals a poet's weakness like classical verse, and that's why it's so universally dodged."

"И, как лейкоцит в крови,луна в твореньях певцов, сгоравших от туберкулеза,писавших, что – от любви."

"By failing to read or listen to poets, society dooms itself to inferior modes of articulation, those of the politician, the salesman or the charlatan."

"VIIIO when so much has been and gonebehind you—grief, to say the least—expect no help from anyone.Board a train, get to the coast.It’s wider and it’s deeper. Thissuperiority’s not a thingof joy especially. Mind you, ifone has to feel as orphans do,better in places where the viewstirs somehow and cannot sting."

"A bird may twitter a better song.But should you consider abortion wrongor that the quacks ask too high a fee,come to this wall, and see."