Human material seems to have one major defect: it does not like to be considered merely as human material. It finds it hard to endure the feeling that it must resign itself to passive acceptance of changes introduced from above.
CZESLAW MILOSZA true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death – the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.
More Czeslaw Milosz Quotes
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Do not feel safe. The poet remembers. You can kill one, but another is born. The words are written down, the deed, the date.
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Men will clutch at illusions when they have nothing else to hold to.
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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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The revolt against one’s environment is usually ‘shame’ of one’s environment.
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A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death.
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The soul exceeds its circumstances.
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If I am all mankind, are they themselves without me?
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On the day the world ends A bee circles a clover, A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
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And now I am ready to keep running When the sun rises beyond the borderlands of death. I already see mountain ridges in the heavenly forest Where, beyond every essence, a new essence awaits.
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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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I have defined poetry as a ‘passionate pursuit of the Real.
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Language is the only homeland.
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Irony is the glory of slaves.
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I have no wisdom, no skills, and no faith but I received strength, it tears the world apart. I shall break, a heavy wave, against its shores and a young wave will cover my trace.
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For a country without a past is nothing, a word That, hardly spoken, loses its meaning, A perishable wall destroyed by flame, An echo of animal emotions.
CZESLAW MILOSZ