Terrò il tuo cuore più delicatamente del mio

... from Novecento

La terra, quella è une nave troppo grande per me. È un viaggio troppo lungo. È una donna troppo bella. È un profumo troppo forte. È una music anche non so suonare.

Éditions Denoël 1958, p. 61: Vous êtes resté coincé entre le présent et le futur ! En somme, vous étiez au conditionnel !

p.70:  Et son cœur battait son cœur battait d'un grand émoi... Son amour pour Annette était né en lui dans qu'il y prît garde, et voilà qu'il s'entraînait, à travers le temps et l'espace, a l'endroit même où il espérait trouver satisfaction.

p.78: Quelques-uns [enfants] ressemblaient déjà aux vices de leur père. Rester enfant, était-ce le grand secret du bonheur ?

I'll walk where my own nature would be leading: It vexes me to choose another guide.

... on love

Let me say now — this only once — that I loved you from my soul, and gave you my life, so much of it as you would take, — and all that is done, not to be altered now: it was, in the nature of the proceeding, wholly independent of any return on your part. I will not think on extremes you might have resorted to; as it is, the assurance of your friendship, the intimacy to which you admit me, now, make the truest, deepest joy of my life — a joy I can never think fugitive while we are in life….

-- letter to Elizabeth Barrett

Only I discern Infinite passion, and the pain Of finite hearts that yearn.

... on the meaning of life

A wise man once said that all human activity is a form of play. And the highest form of play is the search for Truth, Beauty and Love. What more is needed? Should there be a ‘meaning’ as well, that will be a bonus?

If we waste time looking for life’s meaning, we may have no time to live — or to play.

... on awareness

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others.

... on loss

    If ever you lost a friend… you remember you could not begin again because there was no world —
    A breathless Death is not so cold as a Death that breathes.

... on science

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

... on understanding

...elementary does not mean easy to understand. Elementary means very little is required to know ahead of time in order to understand it, except to have an infinite amount of intelligence. (1964)

... on thinking

Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.

Where wisdom reigns, there is no conflict between thinking and feeling.

... on actions

You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.

... on being

Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.

Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.

Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event.

»Wer zugleich seinen Schatten und sein Licht wahrnimmt, sieht sich von zwei Seiten, und damit kommt er in die Mitte.«

»Die Frau steht immer dort, wo der Mann seinen Schatten hat.«

...on questions

To ask the right question is already half the solution of a problem.

...on religion

The gods have become our diseases.

... on imagination

If you can’t imagine it, you can’t have it.   (1992 lecture, Portland, OR)

... on language

Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.

Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.  (1993 Nobel lecture)

Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. Language alone is meditation.  (1993 Nobel lecture)

... on loneliness

There is a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up, holding, holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind--wrapped tight like skin. Then there is the loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive. On its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one's own feet going seem to come from a far-off place.  (Beloved)

... on the meaning of life

We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.   (1993 Nobel lecture)

...on pain

When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same. 

...on responsibility

Finally she speaks and her voice is soft but stern. “I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands.” 

Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.  (Beloved)

... on the past

The past is already in debt to the mismanaged present. And besides, contrary to what you may have heard or learned, the past is not done and it is not over, it’s still in process, which is another way of saying that when it’s critiqued, analyzed, it yields new information about itself. The past is already changing as it is being reexamined, as it is being listened to for deeper resonances. Actually it can be more liberating than any imagined future if you are willing to identify its evasions, its distortions, its lies, and are willing to unleash its secrets.

Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.   (Beloved)

... on underdogs

champions of the underdogs can never do things halfway because if you did, you would never even get close to the underdogs

It had to be true, Daddy was next to God and even sometimes told God what to do: 'God damn it!" he'd say when he got good and angry.

In judo, the man who attacks is at a disadvantage.

... on the world

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

My powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success.

I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people.

No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.

Live your life as an Exclamation rather than an Explanation.

Truth is the offspring of silence and meditation. I keep the subject constantly before me and wait ’til the first dawning opens slowly, by little and little, into a full and clear light.

«Non si accontenti di sopravvivere. Lei deve vivere in un mondo migliore, non soltanto sognarlo. Io non ce l’ho fatta»  (La finestra di fronte)

... on imagination

Mathematics requires a small dose, not of genius, but of an imaginative freedom which, in a larger dose, would be insanity. And if mathematicians tend to burn out early in their careers, it is probably because life has forced them to acquire too much common sense, thereby rendering them too sane to work. But by then they are sane enough to teach, so a use can still be found for them.

... on love

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.

Gamble everything for love, if you're a true human being.

This is how I would die
into the love I have for you:
As pieces of cloud
dissolve in sunlight.

Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.

Your breath touched my soul and I saw beyond all limits.

Love is not an emotion, it’s your very existence

A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home. 

Someone who does not run toward the allure of love walks a road where nothing lives. 

... on thoughts

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore.

Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls.

... on being

Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?

People who repress desires often turn, suddenly, into hypocrites.

I know you're tired but come, this is the way.

Sit, be still, and listen,
because you're drunk
and we're at
the edge of the roof.

You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.

The moon stays bright when it doesn't avoid the night.

As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.

Look at the moon in the sky, not the one in the lake.

... on criticisms

When someone beats a rug, the blows are not against the rug,  but against the dust in it.

The fault is in the one who blames. Spirit sees nothing to criticize.

If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?

Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.

“The Water said to the dirty one, “Come here.”
The dirty one said, “I am too ashamed.”
The water replied, “How will your shame be washed away without me?” 

... on dancing

Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free.

... on silence

When I am silent, I have thunder hidden inside.

There is a voice that doesn't use words. Listen.

Silence is the language of god. All else is poor translation.

... on expectations and certainties

The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today… The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.

We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality. 

... on friendship

One who seeks friendship for favourable occasions, strips it of all its nobility.

... on love

We’re always trying to find somebody whose broken pieces fit with our broken pieces, and something whole emerges.

... on music

I think you can’t have deep experience without error, mistakes, pain. That’s all just a part of human existence. So what does art do and music? Music is—it’s a repair shop. So I’m basically a repairman. And I’m trying to repair myself. If I do that well enough, I will help repair you while I’m doing it.

... advice to humans

When in doubt tell the truth.

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.

Be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul.

... on human nature and man-made systems

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

All generalizations are false, including this one.

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Man was made at the end of the week's work, when God was tired.

Man will do many things to get himself loved, he will do all things to get himself envied.

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.

Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.

When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet in his private heart no man much respects himself.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.

... on perfection and success

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

... on perfection and success ironically in this world

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

... on words

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

MOVIE/TV scripts

Ils restent tankés dans leurs certitudes  

    - ?

... on living

Non si accontenti di sopravvivere, lei deve pretendere di vivere in un mondo migliore, non soltanto sognarlo...

    (La finestra di fronte) 

... on reality

"Finzione! Finzione!"     "Ma quale Finzione, Realtà!"

    (La Magnifica Presenza) 

... on time and space and love

Come mi avevi scritto? "Così il tempo e lo spazio non ci separano." Invece tutto ci è separato. Se fossimo usciti insieme quel giorno, se fossimo andati a quella trattoria dove ho prenotato, se avessimo chiacchierato e riso tutta la notte davanti a un bicchiere di vino rosso, come una coppia qualsiasi, forse staremmo ancora insieme....Ce ha voluto tempo. Ma appena ho potuto, sono tornato cercarti. Ed ancora qui sto... in attesa. La tua assenza mi lega ancora di più a te. Io già conosco questa senso. Perché tu eri già nella mia vita prima di conoscerti. Io già pensavo a te prima di sapere che faccia avessi.

  (Nuovo Olimpo)

Io ti ho visto quando eri triste...quei che hai voluto bene non ti lasciano mai. C'è sempre anche se non li vedi. E tu dirai io e te ci siamo visti poco, non ci siamo frequentati. E che vuol' dire? Non è quanto. È come. È riconoscersi. È l'intensità di un incontro che fa un'istoria. 

  (Nuovo Olimpo)