“Agitprop
sticks
in my teeth too,
and I'd rather
compose
romances for you –
more profit in it
and more charm.
But I
subdued
myself,
setting my heel
on the throat
of my own song.”

"At the Top of My Voice" (1929-30); translation from Patricia Blake (ed.) The Bedbug and Selected Poetry (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975) pp. 223-5

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 11, 2024. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Agitprop sticks in my teeth too, and I'd rather compose romances for you – more profit in it and more charm. Bu…" by Vladimir Mayakovsky?
Vladimir Mayakovsky photo
Vladimir Mayakovsky14
Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, artist and stage and f… 1893–1930

Related quotes

W.B. Yeats photo

“I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat”

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright

A Coat http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1393/ <br class="br">Responsibilities (1914) <br class="br">Context: I made my song a coat<br>Covered with embroideries<br>Out of old mythologies<br>From heel to throat;<br>But the fools caught it,<br>Wore it in the world’s eyes<br>As though they’d wrought it.<br>Song, let them take it,<br>For there’s more enterprise<br>In walking naked.

Bob Dylan photo

“I used to think that myself and my songs were the same thing. But I don't believe that any more. There's myself and there's my song, which I hope is everybody's song.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Interview by Hubert Saal, "Dylan is Back," Newsweek (26 February 1968)

Orson Scott Card photo
Norodom Ranariddh photo

“I’ve been listening to my father’s songs lately. He was a wonderful composer; I love his songs very much. My father used to say to me, “My son Ranariddh sang my songs the best,” because you had to sing it with your own heart. I used to sing a lot. He didn't like to sing his own songs, so I used to do it.”

Norodom Ranariddh (1944) Cambodian politician

[Post Staff, http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/recollections-king-father, Recollections of the King Father, 3 February 2013, 29 June 2015, Phnom Penh Post]

Ernesto Che Guevara photo

“Once again I feel beneath my heels the ribs of Rocinante. Once more, I'm on the road with my shield on my arm.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

Rocinante was the name of Don Quixotes' horse.
Last Letter to his Parents (1965)

Rand Paul photo

“What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP.'”

Rand Paul (1963) American politician, ophthalmologist, and United States Senator from Kentucky

I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. I've heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen. I mean, we had a mining accident that was very tragic and I've met a lot of these miners and their families. They're very brave people to do a dangerous job. But then we come in and it's always someone's fault. Maybe sometimes accidents happen.
Good Morning America
ABC
2010-05-21
Why Libertarianism Doesn’t Work, Part N+1
Paul Krugman
2010-05-21
New York Times
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/why-libertarianism-doesnt-work-part-n1/
on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and 2010-05-05 explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine
reference to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar telling CNN on 2010-05-02, "Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum."

“The more I prayed for my enemies, the softer my heart became. When I felt real forgiveness, my heart was set free. If I can do it, all of you can do it too.”

Phan Thi Kim Phuc (1963) Child depicted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972

&quot;In Napa, “napalm girl” Kim Phuc shares story of suffering and forgiveness in Vietnam and beyond&quot; in Napa Valley Register https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/in-napa-napalm-girl-kim-phuc-shares-story-of-suffering-and-forgiveness-in-vietnam-and/article_4f9225b8-0938-5509-b69b-abe13479fd4d.html (24 February 2019)

Dmitri Shostakovich photo

“If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.”

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) Russian composer and pianist

Said to Isaac Glikman, 1936; cited from Laurel Fay Shostakovich: A Life (2000) p. 92.

Related topics