"Do everything to avoid to ascribe to themselves the status of the victim!" Great letter from Joseph Brodsky

website publishes the most memorable pieces of the famous speech of Joseph Brodsky, with which he spoke to the graduates of the University of Michigan in December 1988. In this epistle university graduates great poet passed to the younger generation all that is considered the most important in life. < «Do not forget to extend your vocabulary and to treat him the way you handle your bank account. Give him a lot attention and try to increase their dividends. The purpose here is not to promote your eloquence in the bedroom or professional success - although later it possible - and not to turn you into a secular clever. The aim is to give you the opportunity to express themselves as much as possible and more accurately; In a word, the goal - your balance ».

«Every day the human soul is changing a lot, but the mode of expression is often the same. The ability to express himself behind the experience. Emotion, shades, thoughts, perceptions, which remain unnamed, unspoken and not content Approximately formulations accumulate within the individual and can lead to an explosion or psychological breakdown.
To avoid this, not necessarily turn into a bookworm. You just have to buy a dictionary and read it every day, and sometimes - and a book of poems. They are cheap enough, but even the most expensive among them are much smaller than a single visit to a psychiatrist ».

«< Try not to rely too much on politicians - not so much because they are unintelligent or dishonest as often happens, but because of the scale of their work, which is too large for even the best among them. They can at best reduce some social evil, but not eliminate it. Whatever may be significant improvement, from an ethical point of view, it will always be negligible, because it will always be those, at least one person - who does not receive benefits from this improvement ».

"The world is not perfect; Golden Age has never been and never will. The only thing that will happen to the world - it will be more, that is crowded, not increasing in size. How is fair to the man you have chosen, nor promised to share the cake, it does not grow in size; portions necessarily become smaller. In the light of this - or rather, in this darkness, you must rely on your own home cooking, that is to rule the world on their own, at least that part of it that is available to you and is within your reach ».

"Try to be humble. Even now we have too much, and very soon there will be many more. This scramble for a place under the sun certainly is due to others who will not climb. What you have to step on someone's foot, does not mean that you have to stand on their shoulders. In addition, all that you will see from this point - human sea those who, like you took a similar position - visible, but it is very unreliable: those who are called rich and famous ».

"If you want to become rich or famous or both, and others - good luck! < Not to give it entirely. Crave something that is someone else, it means the loss of its uniqueness; On the other hand, it is, of course, encourages mass production ».

«Do everything to avoid to ascribe to themselves the status of the victim. No matter how disgusting or was your position, try not to blame external forces: history, state, bosses, race, parents, phase of the moon, childhood, late landing on pot and so on. d. The moment you put the blame on something, you undermine your own determination to change anything ».

"In general, try to respect the life, not only for its charms, but also for its difficulties. They are part of the game, and are good in that they are not cheating. Whenever you are desperate and on the verge of despair, when you have trouble or difficulty, remember: this is the life speaks to you in the only language she knows well ».

"The world in which you are going to start, does not have a good reputation. This is not a nice place, as you will soon discover, and I doubt that it would be much nicer to the time when you leave. However, this is the only world available: there is no alternative, and if it existed, there is no guarantee that it would be much better than this ».

«< Try not to pay attention to those who try to make your life miserable. There will be a lot - both in an official capacity, and self-appointed. Bear with them, if you can not avoid them, but as soon as you get rid of them, forget about them immediately ».

"What do your enemies, gets its value or importance of how you react to it. So will rush through or past them as if they were yellow, not red. So you will save your brain cells from needless excitement; so maybe you can even save these fools of themselves, because the prospect of being forgotten shorter than the prospect of being forgiven. Switch the channel you can not stop the broadcast of the network, but the best you can at least reduce its rating. This decision is unlikely to enjoy the angels, but it is certainly a blow to the demons, and currently is the most important ».



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