Akhmatova Quotes

“The evening sky is gold and vast.
I’m soothed by April’s cool caress.
You’re late. Too many years have passed, -
I’m glad to see you, nonetheless.

Come closer, sit here by my side,
Be gentle with me, treat me kind:
This old blue notebook – look inside –
I wrote these poems as a child.

Forgive me that I felt forsaken,
That grief and angst was all I knew.
Forgive me that I kept mistaking
Too many other men for you.”
― Anna Akhmatova, White Flock

“Love as content is in the habit of limiting formal patterns. The same goes for faith. After all, there are only so many adequate manifestations for truly strong sentiments; which, in the end, is what explains rituals.”
― Joseph Brodsky, Less Than One: Selected Essays

“Nothing reveals a poet's weakness like classical verse, and that's why it's so universally dodged.”
― Joseph Brodsky, Less Than One: Selected Essays

“One response to the loss of love, of the beloved, is an understanding of the illusory nature of partings, of the way love can transcend time and space”
― Amanda Haight, Anna Akhmatova: A Poetic Pilgrimage

“She [Akhmatova] was not afraid of calling evil by its name and had learnt that do this was of the utmost importance”
― Amanda Haight, Anna Akhmatova: A Poetic Pilgrimage