323 Quotes by Joseph Brodsky

"All the literati keep at least one imaginary friend."

"The formula for prison is a lack of space counterbalanced by a surplus of time. This is what really bothers you, that you can't win. Prison is lack of alternatives, and the telescopic predictability of the future is what drives you crazy."

"Language and, presumably, literature are more ancient and inevitable, more durable than any form of social organization. The revulsion, irony, or indifference often expressed by literature toward the state is essentially the reaction of the permanent-better yet, the infinite-against the temporary, against the finite."

"After having exhausted all the arguments on behalf of evil, one utters the creed's dictums with nostalgia rather than with fervor."

"A poet is a combination of an instrument and a human being in one person, with the former gradually taking over the latter. The sensation of this takeover is responsible for timbre; the realization of it, for destiny."

"The moment that you place blame somewhere, you undermine your resolve to change anything."

"Poetry is not only the most concise way of conveying the human experience; it also offers the highest possible standards for any linguistic operation."

"In poetic thought, the role of the subconscious is played by euphony."

"Tragedy, as you know, is always a fait accompli, whereas terror always has to do with anticipation, with man's recognition of hisown negative potential--with his sense of what he is capable of."

"The delirium and horror of the East. The dusty catastrophe of Asia. Green only on the banner of the Prophet. Nothing grows here except mustaches."