List of Joseph Brodsky Quotes

I Don't Believe In That Country Any Longer. I'm Not Interested. I'm Writing In The Language, And I Like The Language.

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 .

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.

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.

What's Happening In Russia Is Devoid Of Autobiographical Interest For Me. Maybe It's Egocentric. Whatever It Is, Feel Free To Use It.

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.

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.

I Got Caught Up In The Proletariat The Way Marx Describes It.

I Didn't Want To Be Either The Cre`me De La Cre`me Or A Martyr. I'd Rather Be A Novelty, Especially In A Democracy That Doesn't Understand The Language I Write In.

If They Had Wanted To Punish Me, They Should Have Kept Me In A Communal Apartment. Then I Would Have Become A Wreck.

Out Of Dostoevsky: Kafka. Out Of Tolstoy: Margaret Mitchell. (in Conversation, Explaining His Dislike For Tolstoy)

Poems, Novels - These Things Belong To The Nation, To The Culture And The People. They've Been Stolen From The People And Now The Stolen Things Are Being Returned To Their Owners, But I Don't Think Their Owners Should Be Grateful To Receive Them.