Quotes from Carlo Levi

The greatest travelers have not gone beyond the limits of their own world; they have trodden the paths of their own souls, of good and evil, of morality and redemption.

The future has an ancient heart.

The greatest travelers have not gone beyond the limits of their own world; they have trodden the paths of their own souls, of good and evil, of morality and redemption.

Il Futuro ha un Cuore Antico

But the autonomy or self-government of the community cannot exist without the autonomy of the factory, the school, and the city, of every form of social life.

L'altra parola, che ritorna sempre nei discorsi è crai, il cras latino, domani. Tutto quello che si aspetta, che deve arrivare, che deve essere fatto o mutato, è crai. Ma crai significa mai.

The sky was a mixture of rose, green, and violet, the enchanting colors of malaria country, and it seemed far, far away.

men, incapable of liberty-who cannot stand the terror of the sacred that manifests itself before their open eyes-must turn to mystery, must hide...the...truth.

La vita è triste, tra quei grattacieli, con tutte quelle straordinarie comodità, e gli ascensori, le porte girevoli, la metropolitana, e sempre case e palazzi e strade, e mai un po' di terra. Viene la malinconia.

A fresh breeze was blowing from Dalmatia, making tiny whitecaps on the smooth surface of the waves. Vague notions floated through my head: the life of this sea was like man's fate, cast for all eternity in a series of equal waves, moving through time without change. I thought with affectionate sorrow of the motionless time and the dark civilization which I had left behind me.

It was sad to see the peasants' ingratitude. And their superstitions. And their stubborness. And so on, and so on.

It was sad to see the peasants' ingratitude. And their superstitions. And their stubbornness. And so on, and so on...a dust-covered and uninteresting skein of self-interest, low-grade passion, boredom, greedy impotence, and poverty.

Giulia was a mistress of the art of making philters...she knew herbs and the power of talismans; she could even bring about the death of anyone she chose by uttering terrible incantations.

Ma cosa importava se non era autorizzato? Le faceva benissimo: ma doveva agire di nascosto, perché l'Italia è il paese dei diplomi, delle lauree, della cultura ridotta soltanto al procacciamento e alla spasmodica difesa dell'impiego.

If they have money enough for a war, why don't they repair the bridge across the Agri which has been down for four years without anyone moving a finger to fix it? They might make a dam or provide us with more fountains, or plant young trees instead of cutting down the few that are left. We've plenty of land right here, but nothing to go with it.

In questa terra oscura, senza peccato e senza redenzione, dove il male non è morale, ma è un dolore terrestre, che sta per sempre nelle cose, Cristo non è disceso. Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli.

se c'è un modo di essere materno, dove non traspare nessun sentimentalismo, questo era il suo:

Was this classical form the reminiscence of an ancient art, descended to a popular level, or was it an original and spontaneous re-creation in a language natural to this land, where the whole of life is a tragedy without a stage?

The future has an ancient heart.