All The Literati Keep At Least One

Judge: And What Is Your Occupation In General? Brodsky: Poet, Poet-translator. Judge: And Who Recognized You To Be A Poet? Who Put You In The Ranks Of Poet? Brodsky: No One. And Who Put Me In The Ranks Of Humanity? Judge: Did You Study It?...how To Be A Poet? Did You Attempt To Finish An Insitute Of Higher Learning...where They Prepare...teach Brodsky: I Did Not Think That It Is Given To One By Education. Judge: By What Then? Brodsky: I Think That It Is From God.

A Man Should Know About Himself Two Or Three Things: Whether He Is A Coward; Whether He Is An Honest Man Or Given To Lies; Whether He Is An Ambitious Man. One Should Define Oneself First Of All In Those Terms, And Only Then In Terms Of Culture, Race, Creed.

As Long As The State Permits Itself To Interfere In The Affairs Of Literature, Literature Has The Right To Interfere With The Affairs Of State.

I Do Not Believe In Political Movements. I Believe In Personal Movement, That Movement Of The Soul When A Man Who Looks At Himself Is So Ashamed That He Tries To Make Some Sort Of Change - Within Himself, Not On The Outside.

This Is The Generation Whose First Cry Of Life Was The Hungarian Uprising.