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The government, the state, they're just objects of jokes rather than serious consideration. I can't possibly take them seriously.

Joseph Brodsky

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Joseph Brodsky
Age: 55 †
Born: 1940
Born: May 24
Died: 1996
Died: January 25
Author
Dramaturge
Essayist
Playwright
Poet
Translator
Writer
St. Petersburg
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky
Government
Possibly
Take
Seriously
Jokes
Objects
Serious
State
Rather
States
Consideration

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Every life has a file, if you will.
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I always adhered to the idea that God is time, or at least that His spirit is.
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When Thomas Mann arrived in California from Germany, they asked him about German literature. And he said, 'German literature is where I am.' It's really a bit grand, but if a German can afford it, I can afford it.
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Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family. Even your super weirdo creep cousin.
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Racism? But isn't it only a form of misanthropy?
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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.
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The fact that we are living does not mean we are not sick.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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After all, it is hard to master both life and work equally well. So if you are bound to fake one of them, it had better be life.
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When I'm not writing or reading, I'm thinking about both.
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I do not believe in political movements. I believe in personal movement, that movement of the soul when a man who looks at himself is so ashamed that he tries to make some sort of change - within himself, not on the outside.
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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.
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Perhaps the best proof of the Almighty's existence is that we never know when we are to die.
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I sit in the dark. And it would be hard to figure out which is worse the dark inside, or the darkness out.
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If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet.
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If I can get somewhere, I'm all right. If not, I'm miserable.
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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.
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There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
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