Joseph Brodsky Quotes

An object, after all, is what makes infinity private.

Russian talk of political evil is as natural as eating.

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.

I'm a bad Jew, a bad Russian, a bad everything.

Every writing career starts as a personal quest for sainthood, for self-betterment. Sooner or later, and as a rule quite soon, a man discovers that his pen accomplishes a lot more than his soul.

I'm neither Catholic not Protestant. Protestant sounds good but I don't think I am.

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

For the poet the credo or doctrine is not the point of arrival but is, on the contrary, the point of departure for the metaphysical journey.

It would be enough for me to have the system of a jury of twelve versus the system of one judge as a basis for preferring the U.S. to the Soviet Union. I would prefer the country you can leave to the country you cannot.

On the whole, love comes with the speed of light; separation, with that of sound.

I don't have principles. I have nerves.