Zbigniew Herbert citations

“Go for it is the only way to be accepted to the circle of cold skulls
the circle of your forefathers: Gilgamesh Hector Roland
defenders of the kingdom of no frontiers and of the city of ashes

Be faithful Go”

“And do not forgive indeed it is beyond your power
to forgive in the name of those betrayed at dawn”

“Go where the others have gone, to the tenebrous limit
for the golden fleece of void, your ultimate prize
go upright among those who are on their knees
among those turning their backs on and those fallen to dust.”

“And if the City falls and one survives
he shall carry the City within on the roads of exile
he shall be the City”

“You survived not to live on
your time is short, you have to give a proof of truth”

“I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience.”

“if the subject of art
will be a broken jug
a small broken soul
with a great self-pity

what will remain of us
will be like tears of lovers
in a small dirty hotel
when wallpapers dawn”

“His poems, even in English, seem to me finer than anything currently being written by any English or American poet.”