---
title: "1 History Poetry Quotes By Joseph Brodsky"
description: "1 History Poetry quotes by Joseph Brodsky. Plus more from Joseph Brodsky and more History Poetry sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d7/joseph-brodsky-1225_capable_at-certain-periods-of-history-it-is-only_1681848.png"
---

> [At certain periods of history it is only poetry that is capable of dealing with reality by condensing it into something graspable, something that otherwise wouldn't be retained by the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/at-certain-periods-of-history-it-is-only-poetry-that-is-capable-of/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d7/joseph-brodsky-1225_capable_at-certain-periods-of-history-it-is-only_1681848.png)

## 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/)

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