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.

There's nothing as dear as the sight of ruins.

Judge: And what is your occupation in general? Brodsky: Poet, poet-translator. Judge: And who recognized you to be a poet? Who put you in the ranks of poet? Brodsky: No one. And who put me in the ranks of humanity? Judge: Did you study it?...How to be a poet? Did you attempt to finish an insitute of higher learning...where they prepare...teach Brodsky: I did not think that it is given to one by education. Judge: By what then? Brodsky: I think that it is from God.

If I can get somewhere, I'm all right. If not, I'm miserable.

I don't believe in that country any longer. I'm not interested. I'm writing in the language, and I like the language.

Perhaps the best proof of the Almighty's existence is that we never know when we are to die.

In general, with things unpleasant, the rule is: The sooner you hit bottom, the faster you surface.