Quotes from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“No name. No memory today of yesterday’s name; of today’s name, tomorrow. If the name is the thing; if a name in us is the concept of every thing placed outside of us; and without a name you don’t have the concept, and the thing remains in us as if blind, indistinct and undefined: well then, let each carve this name that I bore among men, a funeral epigraph, on the brow of that image in which I appeared to him, and then leave it in peace, and let there be no more talk about it. It is fitting for the dead. For those who have concluded. I am alive and I do not conclude. Life does not conclude. And life knows nothing of names. This tree, tremulous pulse of new leaves. I am this tree. Tree, cloud; tomorrow book or wind: the book I read, the wind I drink. All outside, wandering.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“Voi credete di conoscervi se non vi costruite in qualche modo? E ch'io possa conoscervi, se non vi costruisco a modo mio? E voi me, se non mi costruite a modo vostro? Possiamo conoscere soltanto quello a cui riusciamo a dar forma. Ma che conoscenza può essere? È forse questa forma la cosa stessa? Sì, tanto per me, quanto per voi; ma non così per me quanto per voi: tanto vero che io non mi riconosco nella forma che mi date voi, né voi in quella che vi do io.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“And no one realizes we should all, always, look like that, each with his eyes full of horror at his own, inescapable solitude.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“Era proprio la mia quell’immagine intravista in un lampo? Sono proprio così io, di fuori, quando vivendo - non mi penso? Dunque per gli altri sono quell’estraneo sospeso nello specchio: quello, e non già quale io mi conosco: quell’uno lì che io stesso prima, scorgendolo, non ho riconosciuto. Sono quell’estraneo che non posso veder vivere se non così, in un attimo impensato. Un estraneo che possono vedere e conoscere solamente gli altri, e io no.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“La solitudine non è mai con voi; è sempre senza di voi, è soltanto possibile con un estraneo attorno:”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“The capacity for deluding ourselves that today's reality is the only true one, on the one hand, sustains us, but on the other, it plunges us into an endless void, because today's reality is destined to prove delusion for us tomorrow; and life doesn't conclude. It can't conclude. Tomorrow if it concludes, it's finished.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“And the air is new. And everything, instant by instant, is as it is, preparing to appear. [...] This is the only way I can live now. To be reborn moment by moment. [...] I die at every instant, and I am reborn, new and without memories: live and whole, no longer inside myself, but in every thing outside.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“La vera solitudine è in un luogo che vive per sé e che per voi non ha traccia né voce, e dove dunque l’estraneo siete voi.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“Maalesef, ben varım ve siz de varsınız. Maalesef.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“¿Reconoce tal vez, también usted, ahora, que hace un minuto era otro?”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“El jilguero canta en la jaulita colgada entre las cortinas de la ventana. ¿Siente quizá la primavera que se aproxima? Ay de mí, quizá la siente también el antiguo tronco de nogal con el que fue hecha mi silla, que ahora cruje con el canto del jilguero. Tal vez se hablan, con ese canto y con este crujido, el pájaro enjaulado y el nogal reducido a silla.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“Plus de nom. Aujourd'hui, plus aucun souvenir du nom d'hier ; ni demain, de celui d'aujourd'hui, puisque le nom détermine la chose ; puisque un nom est, en nous, le concept de toute chose placée hors de nous. Sans appellation, toute conception devient impossible, et la chose demeure en nous, comme aveugle, imprécise et confuse ; ce nom que j'ai porté parmi les hommes que chacun le grave, épigraphe funéraire, sur l'image qu'il garde de moi, et qu'il la laisse en paix, à jamais. Un nom n'est qu'une épigraphe funéraire, il convient aux morts. À qui a conclu. Je suis vivant, et je ne conclus pas. La vie ne conclut pas. Et elle ignore les noms.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

“¿Saben, en cambio, sobre qué se apoya todo? Se lo digo yo. Sobre la presunción —Dios se la conserve siempre— de que la realidad, tal como es para ustedes, debe ser y es igual para todos los demás.”
― Luigi Pirandello, quote from One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

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About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.