Man Is What He Reads.

In America, A Metrical Poem Is Likely To Conjure Up The Idea Of The Sort Of Poet Who Wears Ties And Lunches At The Faculty Club. In Russia It Suggests The Moral Force Of An Art Practiced Against The Greatest Personal Odds, As A Discipline, Solitary And Intense.

Literature Sort Of Makes Your Daily Operation, Your Daily Conduct, The Management Of Your Affairs In The Society A Bit More Complex. And It Puts What You Do In Perspective, And People Don't Like To See Themselves Or Their Activities In Perspective. They Don't Feel Quite Comfortable With That. Nobody Wants To Acknowledge The Insignificance Of His Life, And That Is Very Often The Net Result Of Reading A Poem.

I Am Losing My Soviet Citizenship, I Do Not Cease To Be A Russian Poet. I Believe That I Will Return. Poets Always Return In Flesh Or On Paper.

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.

There Are Worse Crimes Than Burning Books. One Of Them Is Not Reading Them.