Ever since then I have known that if all the values in this world are more or less questionable, the most important thing in life is kindness.
Yevgeny YevtushenkoRead
A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else can only be a footnote.
Interpretation
A poet's true self is entirely captured in their poetry, while any other details are secondary.
This quote emphasizes that a poet's work is the most authentic expression of their life experiences and emotions. While biographies and other personal accounts may provide additional context, they pale in comparison to the depth and intimacy found within the poetry itself, making that body of work the most significant reflection of the poet's identity.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of artistic expression in understanding an artist.
Ever since then I have known that if all the values in this world are more or less questionable, the most important thing in life is kindness.
Sorrow happens, hardship happens, the hell with it, who never knew the price of happiness, will not be happy.
Why is it that right-wing bastards always stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity, while liberals fall out among themselves?
In my blood there is no Jewish blood. In their callous rage, all anti-Semites must hate me now as a Jew. For that reason I am a true Russian.
Those who are used to a cage will weep for a cage.
Unfortunately justice is the train that's nearly always late.
Happy is the novelist who manages to preserve an actual love letter that he received when he was young within a work of fiction, embedded in it like a clean bullet in flabby flesh and quite secure there, among spurious lives.
If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some money and you may give someone a little joy and you may make a noise in the world, for a little while. If you write for yourself, you can read what you yourself have written and after ten minutes you will be so disgusted that you will wish that you were dead.
Art is not in the ...eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist.
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
Why does man create? Is it man's purpose on earth to express himself, to bring form to thought, and to discover meaning in experience? Or is it just something to do when he's bored?
I think the best advice I give is to try not to write. Try not to overwrite, try not to make it sound too good. Just use your own voice. Use your own style of putting it down.
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