One who writes a poem writes it because the language prompts, or simply dictates, the next line. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
Whenever one pulls the trigger in order to rectify history’s mistake, one lies. For history makes no mistakes, since it has no purpose. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
I belong to Russian literature, but I am an American citizen, and I think it’s the best possible combination. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
The blue-collar is not supposed to read Horace, nor the farmer in his overalls Montale or Marvell. Nor, for that matter, is the politician expected to know by heart Gerard Manley Hopkins or Elizabeth Bishop. This is dumb as well as dangerous. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
When you have those two languages – an analytic one like English and a synthetic, very sensual thing like Russian, you get almost a psychotic sense of humanity that permeates nearly everything. It can help you understand, and it can discourage you, because you see how little can be done. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
Although I am losing my Soviet citizenship, I do not cease to be a Russian poet. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
My poems getting published in Russia doesn’t make me feel in any fashion, to tell you the truth. I’m not trying to be coy, but it doesn’t tickle my ego. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
Unlike a state, a writer cannot plead the historical necessity of his actions. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
The concept of historical necessity is the product of rational thought and arrived in Russia by the Western route. The idea of the noble savage, of an inherently good human nature hampered by bad institutions, of the ideal state, of social justice and so forth – none of these originated or blossomed on the banks of the Volga. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
Yevtushenko is a high member of his country’s establishment, and he lies terribly about the United States to his Russian readers. Joseph Brodsky Read Quote
