Quote

I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems.

Wislawa Szymborska

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Absurdity
Poems
Prefer
Writing

More quotes by Wislawa Szymborska

Image
I like being near the top of a mountain. One can't get lost here.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
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
Image
History counts its skeletons in round numbers. A thousand and one remains a thousand, as though the one had never existed: an imaginary embryo, an empty cradle, ... emptiness running down steps toward the garden, nobody's place in line.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous I don't know.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Somewhere out there the world must have an end.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Memory at last has what I sought.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
I'm one-time-only to the marrow of my bones.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Any knowledge that doesn't lead to new questions quickly dies out: it fails to maintain the temperature required for sustaining life.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
All the best have something in common, a regard for reality, an agreement to its primacy over the imagination.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Everyone needs solitude, especially a person who is used to thinking about what she experiences. Solitude is very important in my work as a mode of inspiration, but isolation is not good in this respect. I am not writing poetry about isolation.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Something doesn't start at its usual time. Something doesn't happen as it should. Someone was always, always here, then suddenly disappeared and stubbornly stays disappeared.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Generally speaking, life is so rich and full of variety you have to remember all the time that there is a comical side to everything.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
There's simply too much fuss about myself.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
I slide my arm from under the sleeper's head and it is numb, full of swarming pins, on the tip of each, waiting to be counted, the fallen angels sit.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
I cannot imagine any writer who would not fight for his peace and quiet.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
I am who I am. A coincidence no less unthinkable than any other.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Secret codes resound. Doubts and intentions come to light.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
Even the worst book can give us something to think about.
Wislawa Szymborska
Image
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.
Wislawa Szymborska