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.

Quote by Joseph Brodsky

Topics: Joseph Brodsky Quotes

Twentieth-century Russian literature has produced nothing special except perhaps one novel and two stories by...

Twentieth-century Russian literature has produced nothing special except perhaps one novel and two stories by...

Poetry is rather an approach to things, to life, than it is typographical production.

Poetry is rather an approach to things, to life, than it is typographical production.

Bad literature is a form of treason.

Bad literature is a form of treason.

No matter under what circumstances you leave it, home does not cease to be home....

No matter under what circumstances you leave it, home does not cease to be home....

Life - the way it really is - is a battle not between Bad and...

Life - the way it really is - is a battle not between Bad and...

It would be enough for me to have the system of a jury of twelve...

It would be enough for me to have the system of a jury of twelve...

Man is what he reads.

Man is what he reads.

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.

Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play...

Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play...

For a writer only one form of patriotism exists: his attitude toward language.

For a writer only one form of patriotism exists: his attitude toward language.

After all, it is hard to master both life and work equally well. So if...

After all, it is hard to master both life and work equally well. So if...

Snobbery? But it's only a form of despair.

Snobbery? But it's only a form of despair.

What I like about cities is that everything is king size, the beauty and the...

What I like about cities is that everything is king size, the beauty and the...

It is well to read everything of something, and something of everything.

It is well to read everything of something, and something of everything.

How delightful to find a friend in everyone.

How delightful to find a friend in everyone.

This is the generation whose first cry of life was the Hungarian uprising.

This is the generation whose first cry of life was the Hungarian uprising.

The poetic notion of infinity is far greater than that which is sponsored by any...

The poetic notion of infinity is far greater than that which is sponsored by any...

For the poet the credo or doctrine is not the point of arrival but is,...

For the poet the credo or doctrine is not the point of arrival but is,...

For boredom speaks the language of time, and it is to teach you the most...

For boredom speaks the language of time, and it is to teach you the most...

A language is a more ancient and inevitable thing than any state.

A language is a more ancient and inevitable thing than any state.