I sit in the dark. And it would be hard to figure out which is worse; the dark inside, or the darkness out.

- Joseph Brodsky

How delightful to find a friend in everyone.

- Joseph Brodsky

A man should know about himself two or three things: whether he is a coward; whether he is an honest man or given to lies; whether he is an ambitious…

- Joseph Brodsky

If there is anything good about exile, it is that it teaches one humility. It accelerates one’s drift into isolation, an absolute perspective. Into t…

- Joseph Brodsky

The surest defense against Evil is extreme individualism, originality of thinking, whimsicality, even - if you will - eccentricity. That is, somethin…

- Joseph Brodsky

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

- Joseph Brodsky

For darkness restores what light cannot repair.

- Joseph Brodsky

Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse

- Joseph Brodsky

In general, with things unpleasant, the rule is: The sooner you hit bottom, the faster you surface.

- Joseph Brodsky