---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To put it in plain language, Russia is…"
description: "\"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..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b38/joseph-brodsky-1225_books_to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-th_2901709.png"
---

#  To put it in plain language, Russia is that country where…

![“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.” quote by Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b38/joseph-brodsky-1225_books_to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-th_2901709.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b38/joseph-brodsky-1225_books_to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-th_2901709.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b38/joseph-brodsky-1225_books_to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-th_2901709.png)

> “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.”

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

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Freedom of expression is suppressed when writers are imprisoned instead of celebrated.

**In simple terms:** Writers are jailed, not honored.

Key Takeaway

Support free speech and protect writers.

Themes

censorship political oppression human rights

Mood

somber critical

Type

political literary

When to use this quote

- journalism
- publishing
- human rights advocacy

Key Concepts

totalitarianism authoritarian control literary freedom

Questions to Reflect On

- What does imprisoning writers say about a society’s values?
- How can we protect intellectual freedom?

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prison/) [Russia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/russia/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/)

## Related quotes

> [OPIATE, n. An unlocked door in the prison of Identity. It leads into the jail yard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/opiate-n-an-unlocked-door-in-the-prison-of-identity-it-leads-into-the/)

[Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/)

> [It does not matter what you call the gaoler so long as he has the key that will open the door of your prison!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/it-does-not-matter-what-you-call-the-gaoler-so-long-as-he-has-the-key/)

[Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/)

> [There is a doctrine uttered in secret that man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato-c-427-347-bc/there-is-a-doctrine-uttered-in-secret-that-man-is-a-prisoner-who-has/)

Plato (c 427â347 BC

> [“Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away... A man should wait, and not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/man-is-a-prisoner-who-has-no-right-to-open-the-door-of-his-prison-and/)

[Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/)

> [Russia is a country that has supported, propped up the worst of anti-democratic regimes in the Middle East, that has practiced - mistreated its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-shields/russia-is-a-country-that-has-supported-propped-up-the-worst-of-anti/)

[Mark Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-shields/)

> [I think that Russia was like a lot of other countries, a lot of empires, in being a tyranny up until the early 20th…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-think-that-russia-was-like-a-lot-of-other-countries-a-lot-of/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [The problem is Russia is a country that has lost 300 years of its history, in terms of most of what was part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-kissinger/the-problem-is-russia-is-a-country-that-has-lost-300-years-of-its/)

[Henry A. Kissinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-kissinger/)

> [Russia has never been an aggressor. Russia has always been a country contributing to global stability and security. A country heavily involved in combating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dmitry-peskov/russia-has-never-been-an-aggressor-russia-has-always-been-a-country/)

[Dmitry Peskov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dmitry-peskov/)

> [Russia is the only country of the world you can be homesick for while you're still in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/russia-is-the-only-country-of-the-world-you-can-be-homesick-for-while/)

[John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/)

> [Russia has done more than any other country to support the independent Ukrainian state, including for many years subsidising its economy through low energy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergei-lavrov/russia-has-done-more-than-any-other-country-to-support-the/)

[Sergei Lavrov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergei-lavrov/)

> [You are so proud of your intelligence," said the master. "You are like a like a condemned man, proud of the vastness of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-de-mello/you-are-so-proud-of-your-intelligence-said-the-master-you-are-like-a/)

[Anthony de Mello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-de-mello/)

> [“Learn to be content with yourself, if you do not do that, you will live as if you are in a prison cell.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gift-gugu-mona/learn-to-be-content-with-yourself-if-you-do-not-do-that-you-will-live/)

[Gift Gugu Mona](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gift-gugu-mona/)

> [Being an engineer is to live in a mean, bare prison cell and regard yourself the sovereign of limitless space... for each engineer has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-delorean/being-an-engineer-is-to-live-in-a-mean-bare-prison-cell-and-regard/)

[John DeLorean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-delorean/)

> [A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes...and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/a-prison-cell-in-which-one-waits-hopes-and-is-completely-dependent-on/)

[Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/)

> [Each night within his prison cell, he looks out through the bars. He reads the letters that she wrote. One day he'll know the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nightwish/each-night-within-his-prison-cell-he-looks-out-through-the-bars-he/)

Nightwish

## 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/)

[Explore all 264 Joseph Brodsky quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/)

## More Books quotes

> [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/)

[Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/)

> [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/)

[Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/)

> [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/)

[Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/)

> [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/)

[Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/)

> [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/)

[Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/)

> [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/)

[Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/)

> [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/)

[Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/)

> [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/)

Christopher K. Krebs

> [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/)

[Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/)

> [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/)

[Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/)

> [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/)

[Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/)

> [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/)

[Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/)

> [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/)

[Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/)

> [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/)

Markus Herz

> [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/)

[Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/)

[Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "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.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Joseph Brodsky"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-that-country-where-the-name-of/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Books"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-that-country-where-the-name-of/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b38/joseph-brodsky-1225_books_to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-th_2901709.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b38/joseph-brodsky-1225_books_to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-th_2901709.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b38/joseph-brodsky-1225_books_to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-th_2901709.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“To put it in plain language, Russia is that country where the name of a writer appears not on the cover of…” — Joseph Brodsky",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "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": "Joseph Brodsky",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "To put it in plain language,...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-that-country-where-the-name-of/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/to-put-it-in-plain-language-russia-is-that-country-where-the-name-of/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
