Wisława Szymborska Short Quotes

25 Sourced Quotes

View all Wisława Szymborska Quotes
Secret codes resound.
Doubts and intentions come to light.

Wisława Szymborska
I am who I am. A coincidence no less unthinkable than any other.

Wisława Szymborska
There is so much Everything
that Nothing is hidden quite nicely

Wisława Szymborska
Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous "I don't know.

Wisława Szymborska
Such certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still

Wisława Szymborska
The joy of writing. The power of preserving. Revenge of a mortal hand.

Wisława Szymborska
What does the world get from two people/who exist in a world of their own?

Wisława Szymborska
Carry on, then, if only for the moment that it takes a tiny galaxy to blink!

Wisława Szymborska
I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems.

Wisława Szymborska
It's just not easy to explain to someone else what you don't understand yourself.

Wisława Szymborska
They say the first love's most important. That's very romantic, but not my experience.

Wisława Szymborska
He's no end of fun, for all you say.
Poor little beggar.
A human, if ever we saw one.

Wisława Szymborska
They aren't obliged to vanish when we're gone.
They don't have to be seen while sailing on.

Wisława Szymborska
This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.

Wisława Szymborska
I lost a few goddesses while moving south to north
and also some gods while moving east to west.

Wisława Szymborska
Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.

Wisława Szymborska
On this third planet from the sun
among the signs of bestiality
a clear conscience is Number One.

Wisława Szymborska
My siblings died the day I left for dry land
and only one small bone recalls that anniversary in me.

Wisława Szymborska
Toy balloon
once kidnapped by the wind —
come home, and I will say:
There are no children here.

Wisława Szymborska
And who's this little fellow in his itty-bitty robe?
That's tiny baby Adolf, the Hitlers' little boy!

Wisława Szymborska
My dreams — even they're not as populous as they should be.
They hold more solitude than noisy crowds.

Wisława Szymborska
I'm old-fashioned and think that reading books is the most glorious pastime that humankind has yet devised.

Wisława Szymborska
I knock at the stone's front door.
"It's only me, let me come in." "I don't have a door," says the stone.

Wisława Szymborska
He feels like a handle broken off a jug,
but the jug doesn't know it's broken and keeps going to the well.

Wisława Szymborska
So he's got to have happiness,
he's got to have truth, too,
he's got to have eternity —
did you ever!

Wisława Szymborska
They were or they weren't.
On an island or not.
An ocean or not an ocean
Swallowed them up or it didn't.

Wisława Szymborska
My apologies to the felled tree for the table's four legs.
My apologies to great questions for small answers.

Wisława Szymborska
God was finally going to believe
in a man both good and strong,
but good and strong
are still two different men.

Wisława Szymborska
No day copies yesterday, no two nights will teach what bliss is in precisely the same way, with precisely the same kisses.

Wisława Szymborska
When I pronounce the word Future, the first syllable already belongs to the past. When I pronounce the word Silence, I destroy it.

Wisława Szymborska