Skip to content

Don't sleep, don't sleep, artist,
Don't give in to sleep.
You are eternity's hostage
A captive of time.

— Boris Pasternak

Не спи, не спи, художник,
Не предавайся сну.
Ты – вечности заложник
У времени в плену.

Original text (Russian)

Another quote →

More quotes by Boris Pasternak

They don’t ask much of you. They only want you to hate the things you love and to love the things you despise.

Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities, whether they swear by Solovyov or Kant or Marx. Only individuals seek the truth.

Doctor Zhivago (1957)

The idea that underlies this is that communion between mortals is immortal, and that the whole of life is symbolic because it is meaningful.

Doctor Zhivago (1957)

What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup.

Bridges to Infinity : The Human Side of Mathematics (1983)

Man is born to live, not to prepare for life.

Doctor Zhivago (1958)

All Boris Pasternak quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Boris Pasternak (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.