It was only toward the middle of the twentieth century that the inhabitants of many European countries came, in general unpleasantly, to the realization that their fate could be influenced directly by intricate and abstruse books of philosophy.
CZESLAW MILOSZDo you know how it is when one wakes at night suddenly and asks, listening to the pounding heart: what more do you want, insatiable?
More Czeslaw Milosz Quotes
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We have become indifferent to content, and react, not even to form, but to technique, to technical efficiency itself.
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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.
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Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.
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The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them.
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All of us yearn for the highest wisdom, but we have to rely on ourselves in the end.
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The true enemy of man is generalization.
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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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If I am all mankind, are they themselves without me?
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What is this enigmatic impulse that does not allow one to settle down in the achieved, the finished? I think it is a quest for reality.
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It’s true that what is morbid is highly valued today, and so you may think that I am only joking or that I’ve devised just one more means of praising Art with the help of irony.
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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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Consciousness even in my sleep changes primary colors. The features of my face melt like a wax doll in the fire. And who can consent to see in the mirror the mere face of man?
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Be young forever, seasons of the earth.
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You see how I try To reach with words What matters most And how I fail.
CZESLAW MILOSZ