Poets yearn, of course, to be published, read, and understood, but they do little, if anything, to set themselves above the common herd and the daily grind.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAWhen I pronounce the word Future, the first syllable already belongs to the past. When I pronounce the word Silence, I destroy it.
More Wislawa Szymborska Quotes
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Carry on, then, if only for the moment that it takes a tiny galaxy to blink!
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Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous “I don’t know.
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I don’t know the role I’m playing. I only know it’s mine, non-convertible.
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All imperfection is easier to tolerate if served up in small doses.
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No one in my family has ever died of love. What happened, happened, but nothing myth-inspiring.
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All is mine but nothing owned, nothing owned for memory, and mine only while I look.
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I’m fighting against the bad poet who is prone to using too many words.
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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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I am a tarsier and a tarsier’s son, the grandson and great-grandson of tarsiers, a tiny creature, made up of two pupils and whatever simply could not be left out.
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Existentialists are monumentally and monotonously serious; they don’t like to joke.
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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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This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.
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Secret codes resound. Doubts and intentions come to light.
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There is so much Everything that Nothing is hidden quite nicely.
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I’m one-time-only to the marrow of my bones.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA






