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I cannot speak for more than an hour exclusively about poetry. At that point, life itself takes over again.

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
Takes
Hours
Point
Speak
Cannot
Life
Exclusively
Hour
Poetry

More quotes by Wislawa Szymborska

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And whatever I do will become forever what I've done.
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When I pronounce the word Future, the first syllable already belongs to the past. When I pronounce the word Silence, I destroy it.
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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 cannot imagine any writer who would not fight for his peace and quiet.
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I'm drowning in papers.
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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.
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After every war someone has to tidy up.
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It's just not easy to explain to someone else what you don't understand yourself.
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Life lasts but a few scratches of the claw in the sand.
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Even a graphomaniac is an extremely complicated person.
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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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Secret codes resound. Doubts and intentions come to light.
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Nothing's a gift, it's all on loan
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There is so much Everything that Nothing is hidden quite nicely
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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.
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All the best have something in common, a regard for reality, an agreement to its primacy over the imagination. Even the richest, most surprising and wild imagination is not as rich, wild and surprising as reality. The task of the poet is to pick singular threads from this dense, colorful fabric.
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In every tragedy, an element of comedy is preserved. Comedy is just tragedy reversed.
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Such certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still
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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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I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems.
Wislawa Szymborska