Stanisław Jerzy Lec (1909–66,) born Baron Stanisław Jerzy de Tusch-Letz, was a Polish aphorist and poet. Often referenced among the most celebrated writers of post-war Poland, he was noted for his skeptical philosophical aphorisms in Myśli nieuczesane (published in series from 1957; Unkempt Thoughts.)
Born in Lviv, now in Ukraine, Lec began publishing lyrical verse in Polish dailies and later contributed to satirical weeklies and to the Tryby magazine, of which he was a co-founder. Three of his early verse collections were Barwy (1933; ‘Colors,’) Zoo (1935,) and Satyry Patetyczne (1936; ‘Pathetic Satires.’)
A lyrical poet of distinction, Lec wrote contemplative verse; his profound literary culture liked him with fellow poets in Germany and Austria. He also translated Heinrich Heine and Bertolt Brecht.
During his later, post-war period, Lec wrote more collections of verse, such as Notatnik polowy (1946; ‘A Field Notebook,’) Rękopis Jerozolimski (1950–52, ‘A Jerusalem Manuscript,’) and the satirical Fraszkobranie (1967; ‘Gathering of Trifles.’)
Lec is also well known for his many collections of skeptical philosophical-moral aphorisms, which he published, ranging from Spacer cynika (1946; ‘The Cynic’s Promenade’) to Myśli nieuczesane (1957; ‘Unkempt Thoughts;’ sequels 1964, 1966.)
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You will always find some Eskimos willing to instruct the Congolese on how to cope with heat waves.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Advice
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Responsibility, Snow
He who limps is still walking.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Action
If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Luck
When you jump for joy, beware that no one moves the ground from beneath your feet.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Change, Celebration, Parties
The first requisite for immortality is death.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
The first condition of immortality is death.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Some like to understand what they believe in. Others like to believe in what they understand.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Faith, Belief, Beliefs
You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Patience
Is it progress if a cannibal uses a fork?
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Progress
You can change your faith without changing gods, and vice versa.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Faith
Never lie when the truth is more profitable.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Truth
He who limps still walks.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Blessings
The window to the world can be covered by a newspaper.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Media
Intelligence, in diapers, is invisible. And when it matures, out the window it flies. We have to pounce on it earlier.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Intellectuals, Intelligence
Thoughts, like fleas, jump from man to man, but they don’t bite everybody.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Thinking, Thought, Thoughts
The finger of God never leaves identical fingerprints.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: God
People find life entirely too time-consuming.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Life and Living
There are grammatical errors even in his silence.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Silence
The weakest link in a chain is the strongest because it can break it.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Strength
When you jump for joy, beware that no one moves the ground from beneath your feet.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Celebration, Change, Parties
When everything has to be right, something isn’t.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Topics: Perfection