550 Quotes by Italo Calvino

A writer's work has to take account of many rhythms: Vulcan's and Mercury's, a message of urgency obtained by dint of patient and meticulous adjustments and an intuition so instantaneous that, when formulated, it acquires the finality of something that could never have been otherwise. But it is also the rhythm of time that passes with no other aim than to let feelings and thoughts settle down, mature, and shed all impatience or ephemeral contingency.

Novels as dull as dishwater, with the grease of random sentiments floating on top.

Your first book already defines you, while you are really far from being defined. And this definition is something you may then carry with you for the rest of your life, trying to confirm it or extend or correct or deny it; but you can never eliminate it.

In love, as in gluttony, pleasure is a matter of the utmost precision.

Revolutionaries are more formalistic than conservatives.

I write by hand, making many, many corrections. I would say I cross out more than I write. I have to hunt for words when I speak, and I have the same difficulty when writing.

A tale is born from an image, and the image extends and creates a network of meanings that are always equivocal.

We could say, then, that man is an instrument the world employs to renew its own image constantly.

Each sort of cheese reveals a pasture of a different green, under a different sky.