Critical Prose and Letters
A source page for quotes linked to Osip Mandelstam.
“Logic is the kingdom of the unexpected. To think logically is to be perpetually astonished.”
“The spiritual disposition of a poet inclines to catastrophe.”
“Poetry is the plough that turns up time, so that the deepest layer, its black earth, is on top.”
“Only in Russia poetry is respected - it gets people killed.”
“I was stopped in the dense Soviet wood by bandits who called themselves my judges.”
“Logic is the kingdom of the unexpected. To think logically means to be continually amazed.”