Quotes from Czeslaw Milosz

The voice of passion is better than the voice of reason. The passionless cannot change history.

Consciousness even in my sleep changes primary colors. The features of my face melt like a wax doll in the fire. And who can consent to see in the mirror the mere face of man?

The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors, and invisible guests come in and out at will.

I am composed of contradictions, which is why poetry is a better form for me than philosophy

The purpose of poetry is to remind us / how difficult it is to remain just one person.

What is poetry which does not save nations or people?

The history of my stupidity would fill many volumes.

Grow your tree of falsehood from a small grain of truth. Do not follow those who lie in contempt of reality. Let your lie be even more logical than the truth itself, so the weary travelers may find repose.

At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor, Here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds. I stare and stare. It seems I was called for this: To glorify things just because they are.

From life, from the apple cut by the flaming knife, what grain will be saved? My son, believe me, nothing remains, Only adult toil, the furrow of fate in the palm. Only toil, Nothing more.

I am not my own friend.Time cuts me in two.

It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism.

Love means to look at yourself The way one looks at distant things For you are only one thing among many.

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.

Grow your tree of falsehood from a small grain of truth.

Human material seems to have one major defect: it does not like to be considered merely as human material. It finds it hard to endure the feeling that it must resign itself to passive acceptance of changes introduced from above.

The child who dwells inside us trusts that there are wise men somewhere who know the truth.

Yet falling in love is not the same as being able to love.

All of us yearn for the highest wisdom, but we have to rely on ourselves in the end.

A man should not love the moon. An ax should not lose weight in his hand. His garden should smell of rotting apples, And grow a fair amount of nettles.

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.

The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors, and invisible guests come in and out at will.

When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished.

Yet falling in love is not the same as being able to love.