55 Quotes by Natalia Ginzburg

Cade la pioggia lenta ed uniformeSui prati verdi e sulle rocce nere.Nell’aria si dileguan vaghe formeVelate di caligini leggere.

They fought about politics. Angelica's husband has ironclad ideas and doesn't like them to be questioned.' 'If they were really ironclad he wouldn't mind discussing them. If he gets that angry, it means his ideas are more like cheese than iron.' (Happiness, As Such)

We become adolescents when the words that adults exchange with one another become intelligible to us.

Per quanto riguarda l’educazione dei figli, penso che si debbano insegnar loro non le piccole virtù, ma le grandi. Non il risparmio, ma la generosità e l’indifferenza al denaro; non la prudenza, ma il coraggio e lo sprezzo del pericolo; non l’astuzia, ma la schiettezza e l’amore alla verità; non la diplomazia, ma l’amore al prossimo e l’abnegazione; non il desiderio del successo, ma il desiderio di essere e di sapere.

há certa uniformidade monótona nos destinos dos homens. nossa existência se desenvolve segundo leis antigas e imutáveis, segundo uma cadência própria, uniforme e antiga. os sonhos nunca se realizam, e assim que os vemos em frangalhos compreendemos subitamente que as alegrias maiores de nossa vida estão fora da realidade. assim que os vemos em pedaços, nos consumimos de saudade pelo tempo em que ferviam em nós. nossa sorte transcorre nessa alternância de esperanças e nostalgias.

Today, as never before, the fates of men are so intimately linked to one another that a disaster for one is a disaster for everybody.

You aren't ill: it is just that you are made of second-rate materials

When I write stories I am like someone who is in her own country, walking along streets that she has known since she was a child, between walls and trees that are hers.

Children should be taught not the little virtues but the great ones. Not thrift but generosity and an indifference to money; not caution but courage and a contempt for danger; not a desire for success but a desire to be and to know.