Quote

When I pronounce the word Future, the first syllable already belongs to the past. When I pronounce the word Silence, I destroy it.

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
Silence
Already
Word
Future
Syllable
Past
Pronounce
Firsts
Syllables
First
Belongs
Destroy

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Such certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still
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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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Existentialists are monumentally and monotonously serious they don't like to joke.
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In the language of poetry, where every word is weighed, nothing is usual or normal. Not a single stone and not a single cloud above it. Not a single day and not a single night after it. And above all, not a single existence, not anyone's existence in this world.
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All is mine but nothing owned, nothing owned for memory, and mine only while I look.
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Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.
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I'm fighting against the bad poet who is prone to using too many words.
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Secret codes resound. Doubts and intentions come to light.
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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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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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They say the first sentence in any speech is always the hardest. Well, that one's behind me, anyway.
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Somewhere out there the world must have an end.
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No one feels good at four in the morning. If ants feel good at four in the morning —three cheers for the ants.
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This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.
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They say the first love's most important. That's very romantic, but not my experience.
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I'm drowning in papers.
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Poetic talent doesn't operate in a vacuum. There is a spirit of Polish poetry.
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I cannot imagine any writer who would not fight for his peace and quiet.
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Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die.
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Whether you want it or not, your genes have a political past, your skin a political tone. your eyes a political color. ... you walk with political steps on political ground.
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