Man is what he reads. Joseph Brodsky More Quotes by Joseph Brodsky More Quotes From Joseph Brodsky Snobbery? But it's only a form of despair. Joseph Brodsky snobberydespairform The real history of consciousness starts with one's first lie. Joseph Brodsky reallyingfirsts I'm not trying to be ridiculous or funny, but it was rather pleasant to find yourself in isolation, in solitary. Joseph Brodsky finding-yourselfridiculoustrying The Constitution doesn't mention rain. Joseph Brodsky constitutionrain In America, a metrical poem is likely to conjure up the idea of the sort of poet who wears ties and lunches at the faculty club. In Russia it suggests the moral force of an art practiced against the greatest personal odds, as a discipline, solitary and intense. Joseph Brodsky russiaoddsart Racism? But isn't it only a form of misanthropy? Joseph Brodsky misanthropyracismrace A language is a more ancient and inevitable thing than any state. Joseph Brodsky ancientstateslanguage All the literati keep at least one imaginary friend. Joseph Brodsky imaginary-friendimaginary My poems getting published in Russia doesn't make me feel in any fashion, to tell you the truth. I'm not trying to be coy, but it doesn't tickle my ego. Joseph Brodsky russiaegofashion 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. Joseph Brodsky ironyorganizationliterature I'm neither Catholic not Protestant. Protestant sounds good but I don't think I am. Joseph Brodsky catholicsoundthinking Who included me among the ranks of the human race? Joseph Brodsky human-racehumansrace It's partly the fault of the institutions of education. But it's partly the decision to be relieved of responsibility. Literature is simply the most focused form of the demands on the evolution of the species. It imposes a certain responsibility, moral, ethical and esthetic responsibility, and the species simply doesn't want to oblige. Joseph Brodsky faultsdecisionresponsibility Every writing career starts as a personal quest for sainthood, for self-betterment. Sooner or later, and as a rule quite soon, a man discovers that his pen accomplishes a lot more than his soul. Joseph Brodsky selfwritingmen What I like about cities is that everything is king size, the beauty and the ugliness. Joseph Brodsky citieskingsbeauty I don't want to dive into that mud slide, which is what I consider the literary process. Joseph Brodsky mudslideswant I grew up in the sort of cultural milieu that always regarded conversations about the political discourse as tremendously low-brow. Joseph Brodsky politicalgrew-uplows I'm 100 percent Jewish by blood, but by education I'm nothing. By affiliation I'm nothing. Joseph Brodsky percentaffiliationblood ...in the business of writing what one accumulates is not expertise but uncertainties. Which is but another name for craft. Joseph Brodsky craftsnameswriting An object, after all, is what makes infinity private. Joseph Brodsky objectsinfinity
