He made Andrzej and me laugh with brilliant, ironic Warsaw jokes about life in communist Poland. [...] Zygmunt liked life’s pleasures. I don’t remember him asking for any special dishes, when he visited us, but he really appreciated good food, which is why I would always go out of my way to prepare his favourite French dishes.  He was also fond of good wine. He smoked continuously, but it did not prevent him from enjoying wine or delicately spiced gravies. He had good taste in everything, including his brilliant, ironic sense of humour. 

Zygmunt believed that his place was in Poland and that his most important duty was to cultivate – in what he wrote and said – Polish cultural tradition, both in the moral and historical sense. He was modest about his actions, but was able to speak out boldly and forcefully against communist dictates. He remained in Poland precisely because of his strong sense that at least in this way he could have some influence on the perception of the reality around him.

^{From the interview conducted by Beata Bolesławska-Lewandowska 
(Mycielski. Szlachectwo zobowiązuje, Kraków 2018)}