The moment that you place blame somewhere, you undermine your resolve to change anything. Joseph Brodsky More Quotes by Joseph Brodsky More Quotes From Joseph Brodsky In poetic thought, the role of the subconscious is played by euphony. Joseph Brodsky roles poetry literature 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. Joseph Brodsky tragedy men negative 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. Joseph Brodsky mustache east green If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet. Joseph Brodsky choices writing hands Every individual ought to know at least one poet from cover to cover: if not as a guide through the world, then as a yardstick for the language. Joseph Brodsky yardsticks language world 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. Joseph Brodsky destiny poetry realization As failures go, attempting to recall the past is like trying to grasp the meaning of existence. Both make one feel like a baby clutching at a basketball: one's palms keep sliding off. Joseph Brodsky basketball baby past After having exhausted all the arguments on behalf of evil, one utters the creed's dictums with nostalgia rather than with fervor. Joseph Brodsky exhausted nostalgia evil For aesthetics is the mother of ethics. Were we to choose our leaders on the basis of their reading experience and not their political programs, there would be much less grief on earth. I believe-not empirically, alas, but only theoretically-that for someone who has read a lot of Dickens to shoot his like in the name of an idea is harder than for someone who has read no Dickens. Joseph Brodsky In the works of the better poets you get the sensation that they're not talking to people any more, or to some seraphical creature. What they're doing is simply talking back to the language itself --as beauty, sensuality, wisdom, irony --those aspects of language of which the poet is a clear mirror. Poetry is not an art or a branch of art, it's something more. If what distinguishes us from other species is speech, then poetry, which is the supreme linguistic operation, is our anthropological, indeed genetic, goal. Anyone who regards poetry as an entertainment, as a read, commits an anthropological crime, in the first place, against himself. Joseph Brodsky Life-the way it really is-is a battle not between Bad and Good but between Bad and Worse. Joseph Brodsky Venice is eternity itself. Joseph Brodsky itself venice eternity I like the idea of isolation. I like the reality of it. You realize what you are... not that the knowledge is inevitably rewarding. Joseph Brodsky realize you reality knowledge The invention of ethical and political doctrines, which blossomed into our own social sciences, is a product of times when things appeared manageable. The same goes for the criticism of those doctrines, though as a voice from the past, this criticism proved prophetic. Joseph Brodsky political voice criticism past As failures go, attempting to recall the past is like claiming to grasp the meaning of existence. Both make one feel like a baby clutching at a basketball: one's palms keep sliding off. Joseph Brodsky meaning feel baby past I remember rather little of my life, and what I do remember is of small consequence. Joseph Brodsky my-life small remember life I remember myself, age five, sitting on a porch overlooking a very muddy road. The day was rainy. I was wearing rubber boots, yellow - no, not yellow, green - and for all I know, I'm still there. Joseph Brodsky day myself green age Good style in prose is always hostage to the precision, speed, and laconic intensity of poetic diction. Joseph Brodsky good always speed style An ethical man doesn't need a consensus of his allies in order to act against something he finds reprehensible. Joseph Brodsky act need something man I simply loved all my life; loved is too strong a word, but I had a tremendous sentiment, partly conditioned, of course, by the reality of where I grew up, for the spirit of individualism, for the idea of your being on your own in a big way. Joseph Brodsky loved my-life strong life
