Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse
Interpretation
Life is a continual struggle to choose the lesser of two evils.
This quote by Joseph Brodsky suggests that in life, situations are often not merely black and white; instead, we frequently find ourselves in challenging circumstances where the choices we face are between two negative options. It reflects a more realistic take on life’s challenges, highlighting that what we often perceive as 'bad' can be measured against something even worse, suggesting that wisdom lies in recognizing and navigating these complexities.
In practice
During a motivational speech on resilience in difficult times.
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.
One always pulls the trigger out of self-interest and quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates.
Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. Nothing else will ever be enough.
There is a wonderful ancient Sufi saying which I'm going to paraphrase slightly. It says, 'When the heart weeps for what it has lost,' in this case 'heart' means 'ego,' 'when the heart weeps for what it has lost, the spirit rejoices for what it has found.'
We are not without empathetic terror when we open Pascal's 'Pensees' and read, 'I am the great silent spaces between worlds.'
To swear, except when necessary, is becoming to an honorable man.
You see in Islam, you see in Christianity, you see in Africa, in different religions, in Buddhism and Hinduism, there is a strong commitment to refugee protection.
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