Wislawa Szymborska

'There's nothing new under the sun': that's what you wrote, Ecclesiastes. But you yourself were born new under the sun.

It's just not easy to explain to someone else what you don't understand yourself.

This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.

Sometimes I write quickly, sometimes I spend several weeks on a single poem. I would really love for readers not to be able to guess which of the poems took so much work!

Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous "I don't know.

Life lasts but a few scratches of the claw in the sand.

I am who I am. A coincidence no less unthinkable than any other.

When it comes, you’ll be dreaming that you don’t need to breathe; that breathless silence is the music of the dark and it’s part of the rhythm to vanish like a spark.

Loveless work, boring work, work valued only because others haven't got even that much, however loveless and boring - this is one of the harshest human miseries.