The imprisoning of a writer is the same as the burning of a book. Joseph Brodsky More Quotes by Joseph Brodsky More Quotes From Joseph Brodsky In the West you have every opportunity for civilization to triumph. Joseph Brodsky triumphopportunitycivilization I got caught up in the proletariat the way Marx describes it. Joseph Brodsky proletariatcaughtway I am losing my Soviet citizenship, I do not cease to be a Russian poet. I believe that I will return. Poets always return in flesh or on paper. Joseph Brodsky paperfleshbelieve The government, the state, they're just objects of jokes rather than serious consideration. I can't possibly take them seriously. Joseph Brodsky considerationgovernmentserious It would be enough for me to have the system of a jury of twelve versus the system of one judge as a basis for preferring the U.S. to the Soviet Union. I would prefer the country you can leave to the country you cannot. Joseph Brodsky twelvejudgingcountry Russian talk of political evil is as natural as eating. Joseph Brodsky politicaleatingevil The fact that we are living does not mean we are not sick. Joseph Brodsky sickdoemean 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. Joseph Brodsky crazyspacewinning For the poet the credo or doctrine is not the point of arrival but is, on the contrary, the point of departure for the metaphysical journey. Joseph Brodsky departuredoctrinejourney I am quite prepared to die here [in NY]. It doesn't matter at all. I don't know better places, or perhaps if I do I am not prepared to make a move. Joseph Brodsky preparedmattermoving Literature sort of makes your daily operation, your daily conduct, the management of your affairs in the society a bit more complex. And it puts what you do in perspective, and people don't like to see themselves or their activities in perspective. They don't feel quite comfortable with that. Nobody wants to acknowledge the insignificance of his life, and that is very often the net result of reading a poem. Joseph Brodsky perspectivereadingpeople I don't have principles. I have nerves. Joseph Brodsky nervesprinciples I don't believe in that country any longer. I'm not interested. I'm writing in the language, and I like the language. Joseph Brodsky writingbelievecountry I'm a bad Jew, a bad Russian, a bad everything. Joseph Brodsky jew As a form of moral insurance, at least, literature is much more dependable than a system of beliefs or a philosophical doctrine. Since there are no laws that can protect us from ourselves, no criminal code is capable of preventing a true crime against literature; though we can condemn the material suppression of literature - the persecution of writers, acts of censorship, the burning of books - we are powerless when it comes to its worst violation: that of not reading the books. For that crime, a person pays with his whole life; if the offender is a nation, it pays with its history. Joseph Brodsky philosophicalreadingbook Robert Frost's triumph was not being at John Kennedy's inauguration ceremony, but the day when he put the last period on "West-Running Brook. Joseph Brodsky triumphwestrunning Judge: And what is your occupation in general? Brodsky: Poet, poet-translator. Judge: And who recognized you to be a poet? Who put you in the ranks of poet? Brodsky: No one. And who put me in the ranks of humanity? Judge: Did you study it?...How to be a poet? Did you attempt to finish an insitute of higher learning...where they prepare...teach Brodsky: I did not think that it is given to one by education. Judge: By what then? Brodsky: I think that it is from God. Joseph Brodsky judginghumanitythinking When Thomas Mann arrived in California from Germany, they asked him about German literature. And he said, 'German literature is where I am.' It's really a bit grand, but if a German can afford it, I can afford it. Joseph Brodsky germanycalifornialiterature As to the state, from my point of view, the measure of a writer's patriotism is not oaths from a high platform, but how he writes in the language of the people among whom he lives . Joseph Brodsky viewswritingpeople What's happening in Russia is devoid of autobiographical interest for me. Maybe it's egocentric. Whatever it is, feel free to use it. Joseph Brodsky russiainterestuse
