Quotes by "Czeslaw Milosz"

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.

The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors, and invisible guests come in and out at will.

It is sweet to think I was a companion in an expedition that never ends

In the very essence of poetry there is something indecent; A thing brought forth that we didn't know we had in us, So we blink our eyes, as if a tiger had sprung out And stood in the light, licking its tail.

I have defined poetry as a 'passionate pursuit of the Real.

The purpose of poetry is to remind us / how difficult it is to remain just one person...

A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.

Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year, I felt a door opening in me and I entered the clarity of early morning. One after another my former lives were departing, like ships, together with their sorrow. And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas assigned to my brush came closer, ready now to be described better than they were before.

At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor, Here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds. I stare and stare. It seems I was called for this: To glorify things just because they are.

It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism.