I'd have to be really quick to describe clouds - a split second's enough for them to start being something else. Wislawa Szymborska More Quotes by Wislawa Szymborska More Quotes From Wislawa Szymborska No day copies yesterday, no two nights will teach what bliss is in precisely the same way, with precisely the same kisses. Wislawa Szymborska kissing night two I don't know the role I'm playing. I only know it's mine, non-convertible. Wislawa Szymborska mines roles knows Poets, if they're genuine, must keep repeating "I don't know." Each poem marks an effort to answer this statement, but as soon as the final period hits the page, the poet begins to hesitate, starts to realize that this particular answer was pure makeshift that's absolutely inadequate to boot. So the poets keep on trying, and sooner or later the consecutive results of their self-dissatisfaction are clipped together with a giant paperclip by literary historians and called their oeuvre. Wislawa Szymborska effort self together Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through. Wislawa Szymborska halfway events book Even boredom should be described with gusto. How many things are happening on a day when nothing happens? Wislawa Szymborska gusto boredom should Animals don't even try to look any different from what nature intended. They humbly wear their shells, scales, spines, plumes, pelts, and down. ... The conscious impulse to change one's appearance is found only among humans. Wislawa Szymborska different animal trying I like being near the top of a mountain. One can't get lost here. Wislawa Szymborska mountain hiking lost No one feels good at four in the morning. If ants feel good at four in the morning —three cheers for the ants. Wislawa Szymborska feel-good cheer morning You can find the entire cosmos lurking in its least remarkable objects. Wislawa Szymborska cosmos objects remarkable Generally speaking, life is so rich and full of variety; you have to remember all the time that there is a comical side to everything. Wislawa Szymborska life-is sides remember And whatever I do will become forever what I've done. Wislawa Szymborska done forever I am who I am. A coincidence no less unthinkable than any other. Wislawa Szymborska i-am-who-i-am who-i-am coincidence Nothing's a gift, it's all on loan Wislawa Szymborska loan All imperfection is easier to tolerate if served up in small doses. Wislawa Szymborska easier imperfection funny We're extremely fortunate not to know precisely the kind of world we live in. One would have to live a long, long time, unquestionably longer than the world itself. Wislawa Szymborska kind long world Even a graphomaniac is an extremely complicated person. Wislawa Szymborska persons complicated Four billion people on this earth, but my imagination is still the same. It's bad with large numbers. It's still taken by particularity. It flits in the dark like a flashlight, illuminating only random faces while all the rest go blindly by, never coming to mind and never really missed. . . . I can't tell you how much I pass over in silence. Wislawa Szymborska taken dark numbers Loveless work, boring work, work valued only because others haven't got even that much, however loveless and boring - this is one of the harshest human miseries. Wislawa Szymborska loveless misery boring Get to know other worlds, if only for comparison. Wislawa Szymborska other-worlds ifs knows Contemporary poets are skeptical and suspicious even, or perhaps especially, about themselves. They publicly confess to being poets only reluctantly, as if they were a little ashamed of it. But in our clamorous times it's much easier to acknowledge your faults, at least if they're attractively packaged, than to recognize your own merits, since these are hidden deeper and you never quite believe in them yourself. Wislawa Szymborska never-quit faults believe