How much energy is wasted in Italy in trying to write the novel that obeys all the rules. The energy might have been useful to provide us with more modest, more genuine things, that had less pretensions: short stories, memoirs, notes, testimonials, or at any rate, books that are open, without a preconceived plan.
More Quotes by Italo Calvino
I'm terrified of writing at night, for then I can't sleep. So I start slowly, slowly writing in the morning and go on into the late afternoon.
Without translation, I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. He introduces me to the world.
For the critic, the author does not exist; only a certain number of writings exist.
In love, as in gluttony, pleasure is a matter of the utmost precision.
The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.
One writes fables in periods of oppression.