My choices are rejections, since there is no other way, but what I reject is more numerous, denser, more demanding than before. A little poem, a sigh, at the cost of indescribable losses.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKANothing’s a gift, it’s all on loan.
More Wislawa Szymborska Quotes
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I’m fighting against the bad poet who is prone to using too many words.
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No day copies yesterday, no two nights will teach what bliss is in precisely the same way, with precisely the same kisses.
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Out of every hundred people, those who always know better: fifty-two.
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Sometimes I write quickly, sometimes I spend several weeks on a single poem. I would really love for readers not to be able to guess which of the poems took so much work!
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Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous “I don’t know.
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Is a decision made in advance really any kind of choice?
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Secret codes resound. Doubts and intentions come to light.
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Poetic talent doesn’t operate in a vacuum. There is a spirit of Polish poetry.
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I am who I am. A coincidence no less unthinkable than any other.
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After every war someone has to tidy up.
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I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.
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They say the first sentence in any speech is always the hardest. Well, that one’s behind me, anyway.
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Any knowledge that doesn’t lead to new questions quickly dies out: it fails to maintain the temperature required for sustaining life.
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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.
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And whatever I do will become forever what I’ve done.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA