Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone. Czeslaw Milosz More Quotes by Czeslaw Milosz More Quotes From Czeslaw Milosz The revolt against one's environment is usually 'shame' of one's environment. Czeslaw Milosz revoltshameenvironment Every poet depends upon generations who wrote in his native tongue; he inherits styles and forms elaborated by those who lived before him. At the same time, though, he feels that those old means of expression are not adequate to his own experience. Czeslaw Milosz styleexpressionmean The vineyard country, russet, reddish, carmine-brown in this season. Czeslaw Milosz strongphilosophycountry They used to pour millet on graves or poppy seeds To feed the dead who would come disguised as birds. I put this book here for you, who once lived So that you should visit us no more. Czeslaw Milosz poppiesbirdbook Grow your tree of falsehood from a small grain of truth. Do not follow those who lie in contempt of reality. Let your lie be even more logical than the truth itself, so the weary travelers may find repose. Czeslaw Milosz treelyingreality We have become indifferent to content, and react, not even to form, but to technique, to technical efficiency itself. Czeslaw Milosz efficiencycraftstechnique It isn't pleasant to surrender to the hegemony of a nation which is still wild and primitive, and to concede the absolute superiority of its customs and institutions, science and technology, literature and art. Must one sacrifice so much in the name of the unity of mankind? Czeslaw Milosz sacrificetechnologyart I was left behind with the immensity of existing things. A sponge, suffering because it cannot saturate itself; a river, suffering because reflections of clouds and trees are not clouds and trees. Czeslaw Milosz reflectioncloudsrivers A man should not love the moon. An ax should not lose weight in his hand. His garden should smell of rotting apples, And grow a fair amount of nettles. Czeslaw Milosz gardenmoonmen You see how I try To reach with words What matters most And how I fail. Czeslaw Milosz what-mattersmattertrying If I am all mankind, are they themselves without me? Czeslaw Milosz mankindifs Forget the suffering You caused others. Forget the suffering Others caused you. The waters run and run, Springs sparkle and are done, You walk the earth you are forgetting. Czeslaw Milosz springrunningwater I've always regretted that I'm made of contradictions. But, if contradiction is impossible to overcome, we have to accept both its ends. Czeslaw Milosz contradictionovercomingimpossible A day so happy. Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden. Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers. There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess. I know no one worth my envying him. Czeslaw Milosz gratitudecheerappreciation Our memory is childish and it saves only what we need. Czeslaw Milosz our-memoriesmemoriesneeds From life, from the apple cut by the flaming knife, Czeslaw Milosz fatebelieveson I have no wisdom, no skills, and no faith but I received strength, it tears the world apart. I shall break, a heavy wave, against its shores and a young wave will cover my trace. Czeslaw Milosz tearsskillsworld All was taken away from you: white dresses, wings, even existence. Yet I believe you, messengers. There, where the world is turned inside out, a heavy fabric embroidered with stars and beasts, you stroll, inspecting the trustworthy seams. Czeslaw Milosz starstakenbelieve It's true that what is morbid is highly valued today, and so you may think that I am only joking or that I've devised just one more means of praising Art with the help of irony. Czeslaw Milosz meanartthinking Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet Yet is not a prophet, for he's much too busy, Repeats while he binds his tomatoes: No other end of the world will there be, No other end of the world will there be. Czeslaw Milosz would-bewhitemen
