Quotes from C. P. Cavafy

We won't be deceivedby titles such as Indispensable and Unique and Great.Someone else indispensable and unique and greatcan always be found at a moment's notice.

Setting out on the voyage to Ithacayou must pray that the way be long,full of adventures and experiences.

I created you while I was happy, while I was sad,with so many incidents, so many details.And, for me, the whole of you has been transformed into feeling.

But Argos can do without the sons of Atreus.Ancient houses are not eternal.

Body, remember not only how much you were loved,not only the beds you lay on,but also those desires glowing openlyin eyes that looked at you,trembling for you in voices.

What are we all waiting forgathered together like this on the public square?The Barbarians are coming today.

Pleasure will have much to teach him.He will not be afraid of the destructive act;one half of the house must be pulled down.This way he will grow virtuously into knowledge.

You'll not find another place, you'll not find another sea.This city is going to follow you.

You won't find a new country, won't find another shore. This city will always pursue you. You will walk the same streets, grow old in the same neighborhoods, will turn gray in these same houses. You will always end up in this city. Don't hope for things elsewhere: there is no ship for you, there is no road. As you've wasted your life here, in this small corner, you've destroyed it everywhere else in the world.

Wymarzone, ukochane gÅ'osy tych, co umarli, albo tych, co dla nas tak sÄ… straceni, jak umarli. Czasem do nas przemawiajÄ… w snach czasem je w zadumaniu sÅ'yszy umysÅ'. A z ich brzmieniem powraca na chwilÄ™ d?wiÄ™ki najpierwszej naszego ?ycia poezji, jak muzyka, która nocÄ…, gdzieÅ› w dali, dogasa.

From "Ships" The marketplaces of the Imagination have shops that are grand and opulent, but not of any great duration. Their transactions are brief, they dispose of their merchandise swiftly, and they are immediately liquidated.