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Wisława Szymborska Quotes

1923–2012 Poland

Wisława Szymborska-Włodek (2 July 1923 – 1 February 2012) was a Polish poet, essayist and translator. She was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Poland
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Essayists

Also known as: Szymborska, Wisława, Wislawa Szymborska

Random Wisława Szymborska quote

68 quotes

Inspiration is not the exclusive privilege of poets or artists.

The Poet and the World (1996)

For the sake of research,
the big picture
and definitive conclusions,
one would have to transcend time,
in which everything scurries and whirls.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

They were neither good nor evil now — every living thing
was simply creeping or hopping along in the mass panic.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Toy balloon
once kidnapped by the wind —
come home, and I will say:
There are no children here.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Everything the dead predicted has turned out completely different.
Or a little bit different — which is to say, completely different.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

The window has a wonderful view of a lake,
but the view doesn't view itself.
It exists in this world
colorless, shapeless,
soundless, odorless, and painless.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Only what is human can truly be foreign.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Something doesn't start
at its usual time.
Something doesn't happen
as it should.
Someone was always, always here,
then suddenly disappeared
and stubbornly stays disappeared.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Eternal Memory of the dead lasts as long as they are paid with memory.

on the Nobel Prize website (1996)

And who's this little fellow in his itty-bitty robe?
That's tiny baby Adolf, the Hitlers' little boy!

Poems New and Collected (1998)

We call it a grain of sand
but it calls itself neither grain nor sand.
It does just fine without a name,
whether general, particular,
permanent, passing,
incorrect or apt.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Those who knew
what this was all about
must make way for those
who know little.
And less than that.
And at last nothing less than nothing.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Within him, there's awful darkness, in the darkness a small boy. God of humor, do something about him, OK?
God of humor, do something about him today.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

I lost a few goddesses while moving south to north
and also some gods while moving east to west.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

There's nothing more debauched than thinking.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

My apologies to the felled tree for the table's four legs.
My apologies to great questions for small answers.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Nothing's a gift, it's all on loan.
I'm drowning in debts up to my ears.
I'll have to pay for myself
with my self,
give up my life for my life.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

My siblings died the day I left for dry land
and only one small bone recalls that anniversary in me.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

It looks like poets will always have their work cut out for them.

The Poet and the World (1996)

He's no end of fun, for all you say.
Poor little beggar.
A human, if ever we saw one.

Poems New and Collected (1998)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Wisława Szymborska (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.