Skip to content

He knows he’s aged a lot: he sees it, feels it.
Yet it seems he was young just yesterday.
So brief an interval, so very brief. And he thinks of Prudence, how it fooled him,
how he always believed — what madness —
that cheat who said: “Tomorrow. You have plenty of time.”

— Constantine P. Cavafy Collected Poems (1992)

Another quote →

More quotes by Constantine P. Cavafy

People of Kommagini, let the glory of Antiochos,
the noble king, be celebrated as it deserves.

You won't find a new country, won't find another shore.
This city will always pursue you.

When setting out upon your way to Ithaca,
wish always that your course be long,
full of adventure, full of lore.

Don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive — don’t mourn them uselessly.

Collected Poems (1992)

Later, in a more perfect society,
someone else made just like me
is certain to appear and act freely.

Collected Poems (1992)

All Constantine P. Cavafy quotes →

Attribution

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