--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Try not to pay attention to those who…" description: "\"“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 s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/998/joseph-brodsky-1225_antagonist_try-not-to-pay-attention-to-those-who-wi_2147060.jpg" --- # Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make… ![“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. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. Above all, try…” quote by Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/998/joseph-brodsky-1225_antagonist_try-not-to-pay-attention-to-those-who-wi_2147060.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/998/joseph-brodsky-1225_antagonist_try-not-to-pay-attention-to-those-who-wi_2147060.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/998/joseph-brodsky-1225_antagonist_try-not-to-pay-attention-to-those-who-wi_2147060.jpg) > ““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. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. Above all, try to avoid telling stories about the unjust treatment you received at their hands; avoid it no matter how receptive your audience may be. Tales of this sort extend the existence of your antagonists…”” [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. Avoid giving attention to those who cause suffering; sharing their stories prolongs their influence. **In simple terms:** Don’t amplify oppressors; stay silent about their cruelty. Key Takeaway Focus on personal growth, not on their narrative. Themes psychology conflict resolution communication self‑care Mood reflective serious Type advisory philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - workplace disputes - public discourse - online harassment Key Concepts power dynamics narrative control emotional resilience Questions to Reflect On - When is it appropriate to speak out? - How can you protect yourself while staying silent? A Different Perspective Silence may be misinterpreted as acceptance or weakness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Antagonist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/antagonist/) [Antagonists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/antagonists/) [Appointed Suffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appointed-suffer-4497612/) [Attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attention/) [Audience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) [Avoid Telling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avoid-telling-407813/) [Capacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capacity/) [Clear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clear/) [Enemies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enemies/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Existence Antagonists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence-antagonists-4497611/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Gossip](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gossip/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Miserable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miserable/) [Officials](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/officials/) [Pay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pay/) [Pay attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pay-attention/) [Receptive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/receptive/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Suffer Escape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffer-escape-740260/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Tales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tales/) [Telling stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-stories/) [Treatment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/treatment/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Unjust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unjust/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) ## Related quotes > [...music is sometimes the only benign avenue of communication between antagonists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-simon/music-is-sometimes-the-only-benign-avenue-of-communication-between/) [Paul Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-simon/) > [ \[Elizabeth Moon's\] antagonists are always evil moustache-twirlers. She could write a book about a golf open and the main rival to the hero would… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nicoll/elizabeth-moon-s-antagonists-are-always-evil-moustache-twirlers-she/) [James Nicoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-nicoll/) > [“In general, the best antagonists in fiction represent the protagonist’s Shadow. By confronting and ultimately defeating the antagonist, the hero reintegrates these disparate aspects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-raywood/in-general-the-best-antagonists-in-fiction-represent-the-protagonist/) [Will Raywood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-raywood/) > [I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments, but not with comprehension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/i-am-bound-to-furnish-my-antagonists-with-arguments-but-not-with/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [What’s this? What are the antagonists doing here – infiltrating their own audience? Well, they’re not really. It’s somebody else’s audience at the moment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/what-s-this-what-are-the-antagonists-doing-here-infiltrating-their/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [All roads lead to Rome, but our antagonists think we should choose different paths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-fontaine/all-roads-lead-to-rome-but-our-antagonists-think-we-should-choose/) [Jean de La Fontaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-fontaine/) > [We are the 1000 children of death. We're in-between, on the fence. Non-descript antagonists. I'm in-between, on the fence. Non-descript antagonist!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otep/we-are-the-1000-children-of-death-we-re-in-between-on-the-fence-non/) [Otep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otep/) > [Poverty urges us to do and suffer anything that we may escape from it, and so leads us away from virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/poverty-urges-us-to-do-and-suffer-anything-that-we-may-escape-from-it/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Poverty persuades a man to do and suffer everything that he may escape from it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucian/poverty-persuades-a-man-to-do-and-suffer-everything-that-he-may/) [Lucian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucian/) > [Most of us avoid telling the truth because it's uncomfortable. We're afraid of the consequences-making others feel uncomfortable, hurting their feelings or risking their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-canfield/most-of-us-avoid-telling-the-truth-because-it-s-uncomfortable-we-re/) [Jack Canfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-canfield/) > [There's no harm in talking to yourself, but try to avoid telling yourself jokes you've heard before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashleigh-brilliant/there-s-no-harm-in-talking-to-yourself-but-try-to-avoid-telling/) [Ashleigh Brilliant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashleigh-brilliant/) > [It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-bradlee/it-is-my-experience-that-most-claims-of-national-security-are-part-of/) [Ben Bradlee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-bradlee/) > [Yes, she's bleeding to death upstairs, but I thought I'd avoid telling you right away, because I like to draw the suspense out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/yes-she-s-bleeding-to-death-upstairs-but-i-thought-i-d-avoid-telling/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone. You're going to have a busy life. Thank goodness there's no life expectancy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-tan/don-t-work-avoid-telling-the-truth-be-hated-love-someone-you-re-going/) [Adrian Tan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-tan/) > [“As could the sarcasm in her voice. "yes, she's bleeding to death Lu upstairs, but i thought I'd avoid telling you right away, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/as-could-the-sarcasm-in-her-voice-yes-she-s-bleeding-to-death-lu/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) ## 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 Antagonist quotes > [For me, in any story that I take, the antagonist is more interesting and multi-dimensional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vetrimaaran/for-me-in-any-story-that-i-take-the-antagonist-is-more-interesting/) [Vetrimaaran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vetrimaaran/) > [Self-love . . . is the sole antagonist of virtue, leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/self-love-is-the-sole-antagonist-of-virtue-leading-us-constantly-by/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Evil is relative - and what I mean by that is that our villains are as complex, as deep and as compelling as any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-johns/evil-is-relative-and-what-i-mean-by-that-is-that-our-villains-are-as/) [Geoff Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-johns/) > [Remember that when you meet your antagonist, to do everything in a mild agreeable manner. Let your courage be keen, but, at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/remember-that-when-you-meet-your-antagonist-to-do-everything-in-a/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [We honor revelation too highly to make it the antagonist of reason, or to believe that it calls us to renounce our highest powers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-ellery-channing/we-honor-revelation-too-highly-to-make-it-the-antagonist-of-reason-or/) [William Ellery Channing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-ellery-channing/) > [It almost seems as though this roiling world is conspiring to test our patience at every turn. In fact, it is. With this in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-almost-seems-as-though-this-roiling-world-is-conspiring-to-test/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Horror itself is a bit of a bullied genre, the antagonist being literary snobbery and public misconception. And I think good horror tackles our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kealan-patrick-burke/horror-itself-is-a-bit-of-a-bullied-genre-the-antagonist-being/) [Kealan Patrick Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kealan-patrick-burke/) > [I'm a filmmaker, and I was most influenced by Hitchcock's films. How he could plant such deep enriched characters and then make us care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-haggis/i-m-a-filmmaker-and-i-was-most-influenced-by-hitchcock-s-films-how-he/) [Paul Haggis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-haggis/) > [Because the character is a fiction, he's a composite of other contributors to the science that brought this enzyme therapy through the process. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-ford/because-the-character-is-a-fiction-he-s-a-composite-of-other/) [Harrison Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-ford/) > [If you have to be the antagonist, you often have a lot more creative powers. You have a lot more color to you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-atherton/if-you-have-to-be-the-antagonist-you-often-have-a-lot-more-creative/) [William Atherton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-atherton/) > [“I mean, without the antagonist, there would be no story! It’d be like: ‘Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-hale/i-mean-without-the-antagonist-there-would-be-no-story-it-d-be-like/) [Shannon Hale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-hale/) > [“Alice started to understand why people found her repulsive. In stories, anyone who didn't look quite right, who wasn't a perfect human being, was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-byng/alice-started-to-understand-why-people-found-her-repulsive-in-stories/) [Georgia Byng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-byng/) > [Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/error-indeed-has-often-prevailed-by-the-assistance-of-power-or-force/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [We are the 1000 children of death. We're in-between, on the fence. Non-descript antagonists. I'm in-between, on the fence. Non-descript antagonist!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otep/we-are-the-1000-children-of-death-we-re-in-between-on-the-fence-non/) [Otep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otep/) > [From a real antagonist one gains boundless courage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/from-a-real-antagonist-one-gains-boundless-courage/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) [Browse all 123 Antagonist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/antagonist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“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. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. 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