Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

Joseph Brodsky Poet

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: May 24, 1940
  • Died: Jan 28, 1996

Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky was a Jewish poet and essayist.

Born in Leningrad in 1940, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972, settling in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters. He taught thereafter at universities including those at Yale, Cambridge and Michigan.

Brodsky was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity". He was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1991.

For a writer only one form of patriotism exists: his attitude toward language. attitudes & patriotism

It is well to read everything of something, and something of everything. education

The real history of consciousness starts with one's first lie. history

Poetry is rather an approach to things, to life, than it is typographical production. poetry

After all, it is hard to master both life and work equally well. So if you are bound to fake one of them, it had better be life. work

What I like about cities is that everything is king size, the beauty and the ugliness. beauty

Man is what he reads. education

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family. family & friendship

St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2025

There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting. 3 quotes from John Millington Synge

3 quotes from John Millington Synge

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. 28 wisdom & wit from William Butler Yeats

28 wisdom & wit from William Butler Yeats

Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep. 27 sayings from Dave Barry

27 sayings from Dave Barry

We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English. 74 other thoughts from Winston Churchill

74 other thoughts from Winston Churchill