When you have those two languages - an analytic one like English and a synthetic, very sensual thing like Russian, you get almost a psychotic sense of humanity that permeates nearly everything. It can help you understand, and it can discourage you, because you see how little can be done.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that knowing both analytic and synthetic languages provides a deep, sometimes overwhelming understanding of humanity.
Joseph Brodsky's quote explores the duality of language and its impact on understanding the human condition. By contrasting analytic languages like English, which emphasize logic and structure, with synthetic languages like Russian, which embody emotional and artistic nuances, he highlights how this combination enriches our perception of humanity. However, this heightened awareness can also be disheartening, as it reveals the limitations of what can be achieved in life and the complexities of existence.
In practice
In a discussion about the impact of multilingualism on perspective, this quote could illustrate the depth gained from diverse language skills.
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.
It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes.
Genius abhors consensus because when consensus is reached, thinking stops. Stop nodding your head.
When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.
We learned about gratitude and humility - that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean... and we were taught to value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with respect.
The realization of Truth and Reality can never be created by the mind ... it always comes as a gift of grace. Inquiry clears away misperceptions and illusions, making one available to the movements of grace.
I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.
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