# Attila József's most famous poems and lines

From the rebellion of "With a Pure Heart" to the lines of "Mama" and "For My Birthday": the best-known lines by Attila József (1905–1937), learned by every Hungarian schoolchild, with the poem's title and year. His birthday, 11 April, is Hungarian Poetry Day.

- 34 votes · 12 items
- Jun 20, 2023 · backpacker84
- https://even.best/en/l/5273/attila-jozsef-s-most-famous-poems-and-lines

## Top 12

1. **I have no father, no mother, / no god, no homeland.** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — "With a Pure Heart" (1925).
2. **For a week now I have been thinking / only of Mama, stopping now and then.** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — "Mama" (1934).
3. **I love you as a child loves its mother, / as silent pits love their depths.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — "Ode" (1933).
4. **I sat on the bottom step of the quay / and watched a melon rind float away.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — "By the Danube" (1936).
5. **With a pure heart I will break in, / and kill a man if I must.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — "With a Pure Heart" (1925).
6. **The sky closes its blue eye, / the house closes its many eyes.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — "Lullaby" (1935).
7. **I step beyond this present tavern, / to reason and beyond!** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — "Ars poetica" (1937).
8. **Existence stammers; / only the law is clear speech.** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — "Ode" (1933).
9. **I have turned thirty-two: / this poem is a surprise.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — "For My Birthday" (1937).
10. **In the end a man reaches a sandy, / sad, waterlogged plain.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — "Hopelessly" (1933).
11. **Perhaps I will suddenly vanish, / like an animal's track in the forest.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — "Perhaps I Will Suddenly Vanish" (1937).
12. **In the end every tangle comes undone.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — "People" (1935).

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.