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.
The mechanics of love imply some sort of bridge between the sensual and the spiritual, sometimes to the point of deification; the notion of an afterlife is implicit not only in our couplings, but also in our separations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love connects both physical and spiritual realms, affecting our perceptions of life and death.
In this quote, Joseph Brodsky explores the profound relationship between love and spiritual connection. He suggests that love serves as a bridge between our physical experiences and our spiritual ideals, transcending mere existence to touch on the divine. This connection influences how we perceive not only our unions with others but also the separations that inevitably occur, implying that both love and loss carry an inherent significance that relates to our understanding of life and an afterlife.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a wedding speech, you might say: 'As Joseph Brodsky eloquently pointed out, love transcends the physical and touches the spiritual.'
More from Joseph Brodsky
All quotes βOne 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.
Similar quotes
The old man looked at him with his sun-burned, confident loving eyes.
I could never pretend something I didn't feel. I could never make love if I didn't love, and if I loved I could no more hide the fact than change the color of my eyes.
To kiss well one must kiss solely. No groping hands or stammering hearts. The lips and the lips alone are the pleasure. Passion is sweeter split strand by strand. Divided and re-divided like mercury then gathered up only at the last moment.
The radio was on and that was the first time I heard that song, the one I hate. Whenever I hear it all I can think of is that very day riding in the front seat with Lucy leaning against me and the smell of Juicy Fruit making me want to throw up. How can a song do that? Be like a net that catches a whole entire day, even a day whose guts you hate? You hear it and all of a sudden everything comes hanging back in front of you, all tangled up in that music.
That deepest thing, that recognition, that knowledge, that sense of kinship began the first time I saw you,and it is the same now - only a thousand times deeper and tenderer. I shall love you to eternity. I loved you long before we met in this flesh. I knew that when I first saw you. It was destiny. We are together like this and nothing can shake us apart.
Venus, when her son was lost,_x000D_ _x000D_ Cried him up and down the coast,_x000D_ _x000D_ In hamlets, palaces, and parks,_x000D_ _x000D_ And told the truant by his marks,-_x000D_ _x000D_ Golden curls, and quiver, and bow.