The history of my stupidity would fill many volumes.
CZESLAW MILOSZEvery poet depends upon generations who wrote in his native tongue; he inherits styles and forms elaborated by those who lived before him. At the same time, though, he feels that those old means of expression are not adequate to his own experience.
More Czeslaw Milosz Quotes
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I’ve always regretted that I’m made of contradictions. But, if contradiction is impossible to overcome, we have to accept both its ends.
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A weak human mercy walks in the corridors of hospitals and is like a half-thawed winter.
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I have defined poetry as a ‘passionate pursuit of the Real.
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The child who dwells inside us trusts that there are wise men somewhere who know the truth.
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It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism.
CZESLAW MILOSZ -
Learning To believe you are magnificent. And gradually to discover that you are not magnificent. Enough labor for one human life.
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The purpose of poetry is to remind us / how difficult it is to remain just one person.
CZESLAW MILOSZ -
Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy, Repeats while he binds his tomatoes: No other end of the world will there be, No other end of the world will there be.
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Irony is the glory of slaves.
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All was taken away from you: white dresses, wings, even existence.
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A man should not love the moon. An ax should not lose weight in his hand. His garden should smell of rotting apples, And grow a fair amount of nettles.
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What has no shadow has no strength to live.
CZESLAW MILOSZ -
You see how I try To reach with words What matters most And how I fail.
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The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors, and invisible guests come in and out at will.
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I am not my own friend.Time cuts me in two.
CZESLAW MILOSZ