[T]he longer you stay skeptical, doubtful, intellectually uncomfortable, the better it is for you.

— Joseph Brodsky

The more one reads poetry, the less tolerant one becomes of any sort of verbosity, be that in political or philosophical discourse, be that in history, social studies or the art of fiction.

— Joseph Brodsky

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

— Joseph Brodsky

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

— Joseph Brodsky

This assumption that the blue collar crowd is not supposed to read it, or a farmer in his overalls is not to read poetry, seems to be dangerous if not tragic.

— Joseph Brodsky

To translate poetry, one has to possess some art, at the very least the art of stylistic re-embodiment.

— Joseph Brodsky

Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those--in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. Above all, try to avoid telling stories about the unjust treatment you received at their hands; avoid it no matter how receptive your audience may be. Tales of this sort extend the existence of your antagonists....

— Joseph Brodsky

Try to embrace, or let yourself be embraced by, boredom and anguish, which anyhow are larger than you. No doubt you'll find that bosom smothering, yet try to endure it as long as you can, and then some more. Above all, don't think you've goofed somewhere along the line, don't try to retrace your steps to correct the error. No, as the poet said, "Believe your pain." This awful bear is no mistake. Nothing that disturbs you is. Remember all along that there is no embrace in this world that won't finally unclasp.

— Joseph Brodsky

Tyranny will make an entire population into readers of poetry.

— Joseph Brodsky

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

— Joseph Brodsky