If there is no God,Not everything is permitted to man.He is still his brother’s keeperAnd he is not permitted to sadden his brother,By saying there is no God.

No duties. I don’t have to be profound.I don’t have to be artistically perfect.Or sublime. Or edifying.I just wander. I say: ‘You were running,That’s fine. It was the thing to do.’And now the music of...

No, non imiterò mai coloro che cancellano le proprie tracce, ripudiano il proprio passato e sono morti, anche se con equilibrismi intellettuali fanno finta di essere vivi. Le mie radici sono laggiù, all’Est, su questo...

I have defined poetry as a ‘passionate pursuit of the Real.

[…] alla fin fine, bisogna saper apprezzare i vantaggi che si traggono dalle proprie origini.

È difficile comprendere da dove provenga quest’orgoglio dei poeti, se sovente si vergognano che appaia la loro debolezza.

A few have become acquainted with Orwell’s 1984; because it is both difficult to obtain and dangerous to possess, it is known only to certain members of the Inner Party. Orwell fascinates them through his...

A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death – the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.

The world deprived of clear-cut outlines, of the up and the down, of good and evil, succumbs to a peculiar nihilization, that is, it loses its colors, so that grayness covers not only things of...

Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year, I felt a door opening in me and I entered the clarity of early morning. One after another my former lives were departing, like...

Since poetry deals with the singular, not the general, it cannot – if it is good poetry – look at things of this earth other than as colorful, variegated, and exciting, and so, it cannot...

LearningTo believe you are magnificent. And gradually to discover that you are not magnificent. Enough labor for one human life.

The work of human thought should withstand the test of brutal, naked reality. If it cannot, it is worthless. Probably only those things are worthwhile which can preserve their validity in the eyes of a...

[…] perché esistono dei mostri che nessuno può vincere in un combattimento faccia a faccia.

In a room wherepeople unanimously maintaina conspiracy of silence,one word of truthsounds like a pistol shot.

The bright side of the planet moves toward darknessAnd the cities are falling asleep, each in its hour,And for me, now as then, it is too much.There is too much world.

Oggi penso talvolta che il vicino dell’Elefante poteva essere il futuro ufficiale della Gestapo che lo avrebbe torturato durante gli interrogatori. L’Elefante non era fatto per stare in prigione perché membro di una qualche organizzazione...

Men will clutch at illusions when they have nothing else to hold to.

The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them.

You see how I tryTo reach with wordsWhat matters mostAnd how I fail.

Language is the only homeland.

The purpose of poetry is to remind ushow 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...

Religion used to be the opium of the people. To those suffering humiliation, pain, illness, and serfdom, religion promised the reward of an after life. But now, we are witnessing a transformation, a true opium...

It is sweet to think I was a companion in an expedition that never ends