“For a country without a past is nothing, a word
That, hardly spoken, loses its meaning,
A perishable wall destroyed by flame,
An echo of animal emotions.”
"A Legend" (1949), trans. Czesŀaw Miŀosz and Robert Hass
Daylight (1953)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Czeslaw Milosz 106
Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator 1911–2004Related quotes
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 554.
Confusion of Feelings or Confusion: The Private Papers of Privy Councillor R. Von D (1927)
"Me and Bobby McGee" another of her greatest hits, the song was actually written by Kris Kristofferson, and first released as sung by Roger Miller
Misattributed
Context: Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free...
And feeling good was easy, lord, when he sang the blues.
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.
Source: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
“There is no word or action but has its echo in Eternity.”
As quoted in Pythagoron: The Religious, Moral, and Ethical Teachings of Pythagoras (1947) by Hobart Huson, p. 99
Context: There is no word or action but has its echo in Eternity.
Thought is an Idea in transit, which when once released, never can be lured back, nor the spoken word recalled. Nor ever can the overt act be erased All that thou thinkest, sayest, or doest bears perpetual record of itself, enduring for Eternity.
“Good and bad lies within and without one other loses its mean and essence.”
"Humanity", Ch.VII "Humanity: A Way Forward", Part VIII
"The Art of Living", interview with journalist Gordon Young first published in 1960
Variant: [T]here are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word "happy" would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.