Joseph Brodsky

Of all the parts of your body, be most vigilant over your index finger, for it is blame-thirsty. A pointed finger is a victim__ logo.

Men canreturn to where they have done evil deeds,but men do not return to where they__e beenabased. On this point God__ design and ourown feeling of abasement coincideso absolutely that we quit: the night,the rotting beast, the exultant mobs, our homes,our hearthfires, Bacchus in a vacant lotembracing Ariadne in the dark.

I always adhered to the idea that God is time, or at least that His spirit is... In any case, I always thought that if the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water, the water was bound to reflect it. Hence my sentiment for water, for its folds, wrinkles. and ripples, and - as I am a Northerner - for its grayness. I simply think that water is the image of time, and every New Year's Eve, in somewhat pagan fashion, I try to find myself near water, preferably near a sea or an ocean, to watch the emergence of a new helping, a new cupful of time from it.

For darkness restores what light cannot repair.

[T]he longer you stay skeptical, doubtful, intellectually uncomfortable, the better it is for you.

Man is what he reads.

[T]he accumulation of things not spelled out, not properly articulated, may result in neurosis.