One always pulls the trigger out of self-interest and quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.
Joseph BrodskyRead
Basically, it's hard for me to assess myself, a hardship not only prompted by the immodesty of the enterprise, but because one is not capable of assessing himself, let alone his work. However, if I were to summarize, my main interest is the nature of time. That's what interests me most of all. What time can do to a man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-assessment is challenging, particularly in understanding the impact of time on an individual.
In this quote, Joseph Brodsky reflects on the difficulty of self-evaluation and the complexities of assessing one's life and work. He emphasizes that his primary fascination lies in the nature of time and its profound effects on human existence, suggesting that time transforms individuals in ways that are often difficult to comprehend.
Themes
TimeSelf-AssessmentHuman ExperienceReflectionChange
In practice
Example use cases
In a personal development workshop, to emphasize the importance of self-reflection.
More from Joseph Brodsky
All quotes →On the whole, infinity is a fairly palpable aspect of this business of publishing, if only because it extends a dead author's existence beyond the limits he envisioned, or provides a living author with a future he cannot measure. In other words, this business deals with the future which we all prefer to regard as unending.
Joseph BrodskyRead
The invention of ethical and political doctrines, which blossomed into our own social sciences, is a product of times when things appeared manageable. The same goes for the criticism of those doctrines, though as a voice from the past, this criticism proved prophetic.
Joseph BrodskyRead
Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those - in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed.
Joseph BrodskyRead
To put it in plain language, Russia is that country where the name of a writer appears not on the cover of his book, but on the door of his prison cell.
Joseph BrodskyRead
I remember myself, age five, sitting on a porch overlooking a very muddy road. The day was rainy. I was wearing rubber boots, yellow - no, not yellow, green - and for all I know, I'm still there.
Joseph BrodskyRead
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