Quotes from Italo Calvino

Todo o imaginável pode ser sonhado mas também o sonho mais inesperado é um enigma que oculta um desejo, ou o seu contrário, um terror.

For the majority of mollusks, the visible organic form has little importance in the life of the members of a species, since they cannot see one another and have, at most, only a vague perception of other individuals and of their surroundings. This does not prevent brightly colored stripings and forms which seem very beautiful to our eyes (as in many gastropod shells) from existing independently of any relationship to visibility.

en suma, no tenía límites a mis pensamientos, que además no eran pensamientos porque no tenía un cerebro con que pensarlos y cada célula pensaba por su cuenta todo lo pensable todo de una vez, no a través de imágenes, ya que no las teníamos a disposición de ningún modo, sino sencillamente de esa manera indeterminada de sentirse allí que no excluía ningún modo de sentirse allí de otro modo.

Llega un momento de la vida en que de la gente que uno ha conocido son más los muertos que los vivos. Y la gente se niega a aceptar otras fisionomías, otras expresiones: En todas las caras nuevas que encuentra, imprime los viejos calcos, para cada una encuentra una cara que se le adapta mejor.

La forza dell'eremita si misura non tanto da quanto lontano è andato a stare, ma dalla poca distanza che gli basta per staccarsi dalla città, senza mai perderla di vista

Let's be frank: every regime, even the most authoritarian, survives in a situation of unstable equilibrium, whereby it needs to justify constantly the existence of its repressive apparatus, therefore of something to repress.

A little later, Raimbaut reins his horse in the town square. "Have you seen a knight pass?" "Which? Two have passed and you're the third." "One rushing after the other." "Is it true one isn't a man?" "The second is a woman." "And the first?" "Nothing." "What about you?" "Me? I'm . . . I'm a man." "Thanks be to God!

Según las más recientes teorías, la Tierra en su origen habría sido un pequeñísimo cuerpo frío que luego habría aumentado englobando meteoritos y polvo meteórico. Al principio creíamos que podíamos tenerla limpia –contó el viejo Qfwfq–, precisamente porque era pequeña y se podía barrer y desempolvar todos los días.

this lightness is something created in the writing, using the linguistic tools of the poet, independent of whatever philosophical doctrine the poet claims to be following.

There is a stirring of gaiety and intimacy, of slaps on the back, which surrounds Dr. Marne, a business of old jokes and teasing; but at the center of this merriment there is a zone of respect that is never breached, not only because Marne is a physician, public health officer or something of the sort, but also because he is a friend, or perhaps because he's a poor bastard who bears his misfortunes while remaining a friend.

Le nostre distanze un po' s'accorciavano un po' s'allungavano ma ormai era chiaro che l'uno non avrebbe mai raggiunto l'altro né mai l'altro l'uno. Di giocare a rincorrerci avevamo perso ogni gusto, e del resto non eravamo più bambini, ma ormai non ci restava altro da fare.

Mercury, god of the fickle, to whom the city is sacred, worked this ambiguous miracle.

How? Well, if a girl has had enough of every man who exists, her only remaining desire could be for a man who doesn't exist at all . . .

For some time the augurs had been sure that the carpet's harmonious pattern was of divine origin. The oracle was interpreted in this sense, arousing no controversy. But you could, similarly, come to the opposite conclusion: that the true map of the uni-verse is the city of Eudoxia, just as it is, a stain that spreads out shapelessly, with crooked streets, houses that crumble one upon the other amid clouds of dust, fires, screams in the darkness.

Forse non farò cose importanti, ma la storia è fatta di piccoli gesti anonimi, forse domani morirò, [...] ma tutte le cose che farò prima di morire e la mia morte stessa saranno pezzetti di storia, e tutti i pensieri che sto facendo adesso influiscono sulla mia storia di domani, sulla storia di domani del genere umano.

wrong: Penthesilea is

O romance que mais me apetecia ler neste momento deveria ter só como força motriz a vontade de contar, de acumular histórias sobre histórias, sem pretender impor uma visão do mundo, só fazer assistir ao seu crescimento, como uma planta, como que um emaralhado de ramos e folhas...

Mentre attendo che il mondo non scritto si chiarisca ai miei occhi, c'è sempre una pagina scritta a portata di mano, in cui posso tornare a tuffarmi; m'affretto a farlo, con la più grande soddisfazione: là almeno, anche se riesco a capire solo una piccola parte dell'insieme, posso coltivare l'illusione di star tenendo tutto sotto controllo.

We can prevent reading: but in the decree that forbids reading there will be still read something of the truth that we would wish never to be read.

Non sapevo che vi conosceste - Ci siamo incontrati in un sogno

When you kill, you always kill the wrong man.

I won't tell you at length about the puzzled peregrinations of our aircraft, whose route kept bouncing from one control tower to another,

Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness

The soul is often in the surface, and the importance of 'depth' is overestimated.