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Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino Quotes

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Famous Italo Calvino Quotes

“Već u izlogu knjižare uočio si korice s naslovom koji tražiš. Slijedeći taj vidljivi trag, probio si se knjižarom kroz gustu baražnu vatru Knjiga Koje Nisi Pročitao, a koje su te namršteno gledale s pultova i polica nastojeći da te postide. Ali, ti znaš da ne smiješ dopustiti da te zbune i da se ondje hektarima i hektarima prostiru Knjige Koje Možeš I Ne Pročitati, Knjige Koje Služe Drugoj Svrsi, A Ne čitanju, Knjige Koje Si Pročitao A Da Ih Nisi Morao Ni Otvoriti Jer Pripadaju Kategoriji Onoga Što Je Pročitano Još Prije Nego Što Je Napisano. Tako prolaziš prvi pojas utvrda, i na tebe se sručuje pješadija Knjiga Koje Bi, Da Imaš Više Života, Također Rado Pročitao, Ali, Na Žalost, Dana Koje Ti Je Dano Proživjeti Ima Toliko Koliko Ih Ima. Brzo ih prelaziš i upadaš usred falange Knjiga Koje Namjeravaš Pročitati, Ali Prethodno Moraš Pročitati Druge, Knjige Koje Su Preskupe, Pa Se Nadaš Kupiti Ih Kad Se Budu Prodavale U Pola Cijene, Knjiga Idem Kao Gore, Kad Ih Tiskaju U Džepnom Izdanju, Knjiga Za Koje Bi Nekoga Morao Zamoliti Da Ti Ih Posudi, Knjiga Koje Su Svi Pročitali, Pa Je, Dakle, Gotovo Isto Kao Da Si Ih I Sam Pročitao. Izbjegavši tim nasrtajima, dolaziš u podnožje tvrđave, gdje se još upiru Knjige Koje Odavno Planiraš Pročitati, Knjige Koje Si Godinama Tražio A Nisi Ih Našao, Knjige Koje Govore o Nečemu Čime Se Trenutno Baviš, Knjige Koje Želiš Imati Da Bi Ti Bile Pri Ruci Za Svaki Slučaj, Knjige Koje Bi Mogao Staviti Na Stranu Da Ih Možda Pročitaš Na Ljeto, Knjige Koje Ti Nedostaju Da Bi Ih Stavio Do Drugih Knjiga Na Svojoj Polici, Knjige Koje Te Ispunjavaju Iznenadnom Pomamnom I Ne Sasvim Opravdanom Znatiželjom. Eto, uspio si neograničen broj snaga na bojnom polju svesti na količinu koja je, doduše velika, ali ipak prestavlja konačan broj, premda ti to relativno olakšanje kao zamku iz zasjede namještaju Knjige Koje Si Davno Pročitao, Pa Bi Bilo Vrijeme Da Ih Pročitaš Opet, i Knjige Za Koje Si Uvijek Tvrdio Da Si Ih Pročitao, Pa Bi Bilo Vrijeme Da Ih Pročitaš Doista. Oslobađaš se u hitroj cik-cak liniji i jednim skokom prodireš u tvrđavu Noviteta Kojima Te Privlači Autor Ili Tema. I u unutrašnjosti utvrde možeš praviti breše u redovima neprijatelja, dijeleći ih na Novitete Kojima Autori Ili Teme Nisu Novi (za tebe ili apsolutno), i Novitete Kojima Su Autori Ili Teme Potpuno Nepoznati (barem tebi)...”

Knjige
Book:If on a winter's night a traveler
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“Hence that state of mind at once gloomy and euphoric which one associates with carrying out the rubbish; and the way we see the men who go by emptying the bins into their pulping truck not just as emissaries for the chthonic world, gravediggers of the inanimate, Charons of a beyond of greasy paper and rusty tin, but as angels too, as indispensable mediators between ourselves and the heaven of ideas in which we undeservedly soar (or imagine we soar) and which can exist only in so far as we are not overwhelmed by the waste which every act of living incessantly produces (even the act of thinking: these thoughts of mine that you are reading being all that been salvaged from the scores of sheets of paper now crumpled up in the bin), heralds of a possible salvation beyond the destruction inherent in all production and consumption, liberators from the weight of time’s detritus, ponderous dark angels of lightness and clarity.”

WasteConsumptionTrashGarbageRubbishDetritusWaste DisposalGarbage Men
Book:The Road to San Giovanni
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“To explode or to implode - said Qwfwq - that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to expand one's energies in space without restraint, or to crush them into a dense inner concentration and, by ingesting, cherish them. To steal away, to vanish; no more; to hold within oneself every gleam, every ray, deny oneself every vent, suffocating in the depths of the soul the conflicts that so idly trouble it, give them their quietus; to hide oneself, to obliterate oneself; perchance to awaken elsewhere, unchanged.”

ExplodeShakespeare ParodyCosmicomicsImplodeQwfwq
Author:Italo Calvino
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“The city of Leonia refashions itself every day: every morning the people wake between fresh sheets, wash with just-unwrapped cakes of soap, wear brand-new clothing, take from the latest model refrigerator still unopened tins, listening to the last-minute jingles from the most up-to-date radio. On the sidewalks, encased in spotless plastic bags, the remains of yesterday's Leonia await the garbage truck. Not only squeezed tubes of toothpaste, blown-out light bulbs, newspapers, containers, wrappings, but also boilers, encyclopedias, pianos, porcelain dinner services. It is not so much by the things that each day are manufactured, sold, bought, that you can measure Leonia's opulence, but rather by the things that each day are thrown out to make room for the new. So you begin to wonder if Leonia's true passion is really , as they say, the enjoyment of new things, and not, instead, the joy of expelling, discarding, cleansing itself of a recurrent impurity. The fact is that street cleaners are welcomed like angels.”

RealityModernSarcasm
Book:Invisible Cities
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“At this point the only thing Palomar can do was erase from his mind all models and the models of models. When this step is also taken, then he finds himself face to face with reality – hard to master and impossible to homogenize – as he formulates his 'yesses' and his 'noes', his 'buts'. To do this, it is better for the mind to remain cleared, furnished only by the memory of fragments of experience and of principles understood and not demonstrable. This is not a line of conduct from which he can derive special satisfaction, but it is the only one that proves practicable for him.”

Reality
Book:Mr Palomar
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“Sections in the bookstore - Books You Haven't Read - Books You Needn't Read - Books Made for Purposes Other Than Reading - Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong to the Category of Books Read Before Being Written - Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered - Books You Mean to Read But There Are Others You Must Read First - Books Too Expensive Now and You'll Wait 'Til They're Remaindered - Books ditto When They Come Out in Paperback - Books You Can Borrow from Somebody - Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too - Books You've Been Planning to Read for Ages - Books You've Been Hunting for Years Without Success - Books Dealing with Something You're Working on at the Moment - Books You Want to Own So They'll Be Handy Just in Case - Books You Could Put Aside Maybe to Read This Summer - Books You Need to Go with Other Books on Your Shelves - Books That Fill You with Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified - Books Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time to Re-read - Books You've Always Pretended to Have Read and Now It's Time to Sit Down and Really Read Them”

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Book:If on a winter's night a traveler
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“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.”

UniverseDarkness
Book:Invisible Cities
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“Tomorrow, Reader and Other Reader, if you are together, if you lie down in the same bed like a settled couple, each will turn to the lamp at the side of the bed and sink into his or her book; two parallel readings will accompany the approach of sleep; first you, then you will turn out the light; returning from separated universes, you will find each other fleetingly in the darkness, where all separations are erased, before divergent dreams draw you again, one to one side, and one to the other. But do not wax ironic on this prospect of conjugal harmony: what happier image of a couple could you set against it?”

HappinessReadingMarriageBooks
Book:If on a winter's night a traveler
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“The close-up has no equivalent in a narrative fashioned of words. Literature is totally lacking in any working method to enable it to isolate a single vastly enlarged detail in which one face comes forward to underline a state of mind or stress the importance of a single detail in comparison with the rest. As a narrative device, the ability to vary the distance between the camera and the object may be a small thing indeed, but it makes for a notable difference between cinema and oral or written narrative, in which the distance between language and image is always the same.”

MindMayStatesFacesLiteratureLanguageDifferencesAbilityWrittenObjectsImportanceStressCamerasMethodDistanceDetailsNarrativeCinemaComparisonDevicesState Of MindLackingSmall ThingsVaryNotable
Author:Italo Calvino
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“You have with you the book you were reading in the cafe, which you are eager to continue, so that you can then hand it on to her, to communicate again with her through the channel dug by others' words, which, as they are uttered by an alien voice, by the voice of that silent nobody made of ink and typographical spacing, can become yours and hers, a language, a code between the two of you, a means to exchange signals and recognize each other.”

MeanMadeTwoBookHandsReadingLanguageVoiceSilentCommunicateAliensCodeSignalsInkCafesSpacing
Author:Italo Calvino
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“If one wanted to depict the whole thing graphically, every episode, with its climax, would require a three-dimensional, or, rather, no model: every experience is unrepeatable. What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space.”

IfsDifferentWholeWantedThreeReadingSexSpaceModelsEpisodesTime And SpaceClimax
Book:If On A Winter's Night A Traveller
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“This is what I mean when I say I would like to swim against the stream of time: I would like to erase the consequences of certain events and restore an initial condition. But every moment of my life brings with it an accumulation of new facts, and each of these new facts bring with it consequences; so the more I seek to return to the zero moment from which I set out, the further I move away from it. . . .”

MeanMomentsFactsMovingCertainConditionsEventsReturnConsequenceStreamsSwimZeroInitialsAccumulationErase
Book:If On A Winter's Night A Traveller
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“My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language. . . . Maybe I was only then becoming aware of the weight, the inertia, the opacity of the world--qualities that stick to the writing from the start, unless one finds some way of evading them.”

PeopleWorldWayWritingSometimesStoriesBodyLanguageCitiesQualityBecomingInvolvedWeightMethodStructureSticksHeavenlyRemoveInertiaHeavenly BodiesSubtraction
Author:Italo Calvino
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“...and every Wednesday the perfumed young lady slips me a hundred-crown note to leave her alone with the convict. And by Thursday the hundred crowns are already gone in so much beer. And when the visiting hour is over, the young lady comes out with the stink of jail in her elegant clothes; and the prisoner goes back to his cell with the lady's perfume in his jailbird's suit. And I'm left with the smell of beer. Life is nothing but trading smells.”

YoungLife IsLeftHoursGoneClothesHundredNotesSmellSuitsCellsBeerJailPrisonerSlipsCrownsTradingPerfumeElegantVisitingStinkWednesdayThursdayConvictsYoung LadiesAlready Gone
Book:If on a winter's night a traveler
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