Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book, including the holy book. Small wonder, then, that so many play dirty, that so few…

Quote by Joseph Brodsky

Topics: Joseph Brodsky Quotes

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

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

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

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

Man is what he reads.

Man is what he reads.

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,...

Every individual ought to know at least one poet from cover to cover: if not...

Every individual ought to know at least one poet from cover to cover: if not...

Bad literature is a form of treason.

Bad literature is a form of treason.

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

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

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...

The real history of consciousness starts with one's first lie.

The real history of consciousness starts with one's first lie.

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....

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.

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...

Bad literature is a form of treason.

Bad literature is a form of treason.

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...

Who included me among the ranks of the human race?

Who included me among the ranks of the human race?

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...

How delightful to find a friend in everyone.

How delightful to find a friend in everyone.

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

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

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...