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But they know about us, they know, the four corners, and the chairs nearby us. Discerning shadows also know, and even the table keeps quiet.

Wislawa Szymborska

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Wislawa Szymborska
Age: 88 †
Born: 1923
Born: July 2
Died: 2012
Died: February 1
Critic
Essayist
Literary Critic
Mechanic
Poet
Translator
Writer
Kornik
Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska
Szymborska
Shadows
Four
Chairs
Also
Corners
Even
Table
Tables
Keeps
Nearby
Shadow
Discerning
Quiet

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No one in my family has ever died of love. What happened, happened, but nothing myth-inspiring.
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Animals don't even try to look any different from what nature intended. They humbly wear their shells, scales, spines, plumes, pelts, and down. ... The conscious impulse to change one's appearance is found only among humans.
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Carry on, then, if only for the moment that it takes a tiny galaxy to blink!
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You can find the entire cosmos lurking in its least remarkable objects.
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And whatever I do will become forever what I've done.
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When I mention somebody, that doesn't necessarily mean that I identify with him, personally or poetically. I'm extremely happy when I encounter poets who are different than I am. The ones who have their own distinct poetics provide me with the greatest experiences.
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It's a well-known fact: in order to follow doctor's orders, you have to be healthy as a horse.
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I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.
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God was finally going to believe in a man both good and strong, but good and strong are still two different men.
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I'm one-time-only to the marrow of my bones.
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Dying - you can't do that to a cat.
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There is so much Everything that Nothing is hidden quite nicely
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After every war someone has to tidy up.
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Such certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still
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Four billion people on this earth, but my imagination is still the same. It's bad with large numbers. It's still taken by particularity. It flits in the dark like a flashlight, illuminating only random faces while all the rest go blindly by, never coming to mind and never really missed. . . . I can't tell you how much I pass over in silence.
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Keep up the good work, if only for a while, if only for the twinkling of a tiny galaxy.
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Sometimes I write quickly, sometimes I spend several weeks on a single poem. I would really love for readers not to be able to guess which of the poems took so much work!
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Is a decision made in advance really any kind of choice?
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