Skip to content
quotesby

Whoever saw, as many did, a whole city reduced to rubble - kilometers of streets on which there remained no trace of life, not even a cat, not even a homeless dog - emerged with a rather ironic attitude toward descriptions of the hell of the big city by contemporary poets, descriptions of the hell in their own souls. A real 'wasteland' is much more terrible than any imaginary one. Whoever has not dwelt in the midst of horror and dread cannot know how strongly a witness and participant protests against himself, against his own neglect and egoism. Destruction and suffering are the school of social thought.

Ceslaw Milosz#44

More from Ceslaw Milosz

  1. It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism.

    Permalink to quote #43
  2. Human material seems to have one major defect: it does not like to be considered merely as human material. It finds it hard to endure the feeling that it must …

    Permalink to quote #45
  3. The masses in highly industrialized countries like England, the United States, or France are largely de-Christianized. Technology, and the way of life it produ…

    Permalink to quote #42