“What makes art in general, and literature in particular, remarkable, what distinguishes them from life, is precisely that they abhor repetition. In everyday life, you can tell the same joke thrice and, thrice getting a laugh, become the life of the party. In art, though, this sort of conduct is called 'cliche.'”

Russian and American poet and essayist

Joseph Brodsky was a Russian and American poet and essayist. He is known for poetry and prose that moved between Russian and English, and for an essayistic voice that made him a major literary figure in both cultures. Brodsky wrote as a poet and essayist across two languages, and his work is often associated with reflection, exile, and the life of the mind. He is credited on this site with 153 quotes.