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.
Interpretation
Publishing allows authors' ideas to endure beyond their lifetimes and influences those yet to come.
In this quote, Joseph Brodsky reflects on the nature of publishing as a conduit for ideas and creativity, suggesting that it provides a sense of infinity. He highlights how the works of both deceased and living authors transcend their temporal limitations, influencing future generations and creating an eternal dialogue between the past and the future.
In practice
In a graduation speech to motivate students about the impact of their work.
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.
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.
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.
You are what what you eat eats.
The behavior of the oppressed is a prescribed behavior, following as it does the guidelines of the oppressor.
This simple truth is the essence of my message to Muslims throughout the world: know who you are, who you want to be, and start talking and working with whom you are not. Find common values and build with fellow citizens a society based on diversity and equality.
God created hand, head, and heart; the hand for the deed, the head for the world, the heart for mysticism.
Death is an ascension to a better library.
God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by a process of subtraction.
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