---
title: "2 American poetry Quotes By Joseph Brodsky"
description: "2 American poetry quotes by Joseph Brodsky. Plus more from Joseph Brodsky and more American poetry sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relen_849592.png"
---

> [American poetry to me is a sort of relentless, nonstop sermon on human autonomy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relentless-nonstop-sermon-on-human/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relen_849592.png)

> [American poetry is this country's greatest patrimony. It takes a stranger to see some things clearly. This is one of them, and I am that stranger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/american-poetry-is-this-country-s-greatest-patrimony-it-takes-a/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-is-this-country-s-greate_1349050.png)

## Other authors on American poetry

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-daisy-fuentes-25962.jpg) Amy King 16 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/amy-king/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-diane-wakoski-29286.jpg) Diane Wakoski 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/diane-wakoski/)

## More by Joseph Brodsky

> [As long as the state permits itself to interfere in the affairs of literature, literature has the right to interfere with the affairs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/as-long-as-the-state-permits-itself-to-interfere-in-the-affairs-of/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [For some odd reason, the expression 'death of a poet' always sounds somewhat more concrete than 'life of a poet.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/for-some-odd-reason-the-expression-death-of-a-poet-always-sounds/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [A poet is a combination of an instrument and a human being in one person, with the former gradually taking over the latter. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/a-poet-is-a-combination-of-an-instrument-and-a-human-being-in-one/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [On the whole, love comes with the speed of light; separation, with that of sound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/on-the-whole-love-comes-with-the-speed-of-light-separation-with-that/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [“In the business of writing, what one accumulates is not experience but uncertainties.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/in-the-business-of-writing-what-one-accumulates-is-not-experience-but/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [I haven't shifted language. I'm writing in English because I like it. I'm a sucker for the language, but the good old poems I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/i-haven-t-shifted-language-i-m-writing-in-english-because-i-like-it-i/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [Perhaps the best proof of the Almighty's existence is that we never know when we are to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/perhaps-the-best-proof-of-the-almighty-s-existence-is-that-we-never/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [I grew up in the sort of cultural milieu that always regarded conversations about the political discourse as tremendously low-brow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/i-grew-up-in-the-sort-of-cultural-milieu-that-always-regarded/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [“What gets left of a man amounts to a part. To his spoken part. To a part of speech”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/what-gets-left-of-a-man-amounts-to-a-part-to-his-spoken-part-to-a/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [“secrecy is a hotbed of vanity”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/secrecy-is-a-hotbed-of-vanity/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [“The instinctive preference was to read rather than to act. No wonder our actual lives were more or less a shambles”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/the-instinctive-preference-was-to-read-rather-than-to-act-no-wonder/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [Americans have been tremendously fortunate in poetry, regarding both the quantity and quality of poetry produced. Unfortunately, it remains in schools and universities; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/americans-have-been-tremendously-fortunate-in-poetry-regarding-both/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/life-the-way-it-really-is-is-a-battle-not-between-good-and-bad-but/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [Poems, novels - these things belong to the nation, to the culture, and the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/poems-novels-these-things-belong-to-the-nation-to-the-culture-and-the/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

> [“If there is any substitute for love, it is memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/if-there-is-any-substitute-for-love-it-is-memory/)

[Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/joseph-brodsky/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 American poetry Quotes By Joseph Brodsky",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "American poetry to me is a sort of relentless, nonstop sermon on human autonomy.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Joseph Brodsky"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relentless-nonstop-sermon-on-human/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relen_849592.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relen_849592.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relen_849592.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“American poetry to me is a sort of relentless, nonstop sermon on human autonomy.” — Joseph Brodsky",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "American poetry is this country's greatest patrimony. It takes a stranger to see some things clearly. This is one of them, and I am that stranger.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Joseph Brodsky"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/american-poetry-is-this-country-s-greatest-patrimony-it-takes-a/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-is-this-country-s-greate_1349050.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-is-this-country-s-greate_1349050.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-is-this-country-s-greate_1349050.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“American poetry is this country's greatest patrimony. It takes a stranger to see some things clearly. This…” — Joseph Brodsky",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/joseph-brodsky/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/joseph-brodsky/",
            "name": "American poetry Quotes by Joseph Brodsky",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/joseph-brodsky/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/joseph-brodsky-1225_american_american-poetry-to-me-is-a-sort-of-relen_849592.png"
            },
            "description": "2 American poetry quotes by Joseph Brodsky. Plus more from Joseph Brodsky and more American poetry sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/joseph-brodsky/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/joseph-brodsky/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "American Poetry",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Joseph Brodsky",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/joseph-brodsky/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```