Quotes from Zeno's Conscience

“You see things less clearly when you open your eyes too wide. ”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“It is comfortable to live in the belief that you are great, though your greatness is latent. ”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Misunderstanding women is a clear sign of scant virility. ”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Health doesn't analyze itself, nor does it look at itself in the mirror. Only we sick people know something about ourselves.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Le donne sono fatte così. Ogni giorno che sorge porta loro una nuova interpretazione del passato. Dev'essere una vita poco monotona la loro.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Complete freedom consists of being able to do what you like, provided you also do something you like less.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Sorrow and love ― life, in other words ― cannot be considered a sickness because they hurt.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“True religion, indeed, is that which does not have to be avowed in order to provide the solace that at times...if only rarely...you cannot do without.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“The fancies of wine are authentic events.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“... a preached immorality is more to be punished than an immoral action. You arrive at murder through love or through hate; you propagandize murder only through wickedness.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“When will you discover that it would be a good idea to memorize your life, even the large part of it that will revolt you?”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Unlike other sicknesses, life is always fatal. It doesn't tolerate therapies. It would be like stopping the holes that we have in our bodies, believing them wounds. We would die of strangulation the moment we were treated.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Birazcık zoraki bir gülümseyişti bu, minnetin gerçek yüzü yani.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Birine ruh yapısının ne biçim olduğunu açıklamak, dilediği gibi davranmasına izin vermenin bir yoludur.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Under the law established by the possessor of the greatest number of devices, sickness and the sick will flourish.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Un uomo può avere il sentimento di una propria altissima intelligenza, che non dia altro segno di sè fuori di quel suo forte sentimento.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Adesso che son qui, ad analizzarmi, sono colto da un dubbio: che io forse abbia amato tanto la sigaretta per poter riversare su di essa la colpa della mia incapacità?”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“V jedné jediné maličkosti se s Augustou neshodujeme, a to v názoru, jak zacházet se zlobivými dětmi: já si myslím, že bolest dítěte je méně důležitá než naše a že je lepší způsobit bolest dítěti, jestliže to dospělého ušetří velké mrzutosti, kdežto ona se domnívá, že jsme dítě zplodili, a tak je musíme taky snášet.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“... je tam také pokus o báseň věnovanou ... mouše. Kdybych nevěděl, jak se věci mají, řekl bych, že ty verše sepsala nějaká ctihodná slečna, která tyká tvorům, o nichž pěje; ale protože jsem ji složil já, nezbývá mi než věřit, že byl-li jsem já schopen něčeho takového, pak už je každý schpen všeho.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“A vida assemelha-se um pouco a uma enfermidade: também procede por crises e por depressões. A diferença entre as outras doenças é que a vida é sempre mortal.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Credo che tutti abbiamo nella nostra coscienza come nel nostro corpo dei punti delicati e coperti cui volentieri si pensa.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“When my eyes closed, however, in the darkness I saw that her words had created a new world, like all words that are not true. I”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“I wanted again May roses in December. I”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“Forse traverso una catastrofe inaudita prodotta dagli ordigni ritorneremo alla salute. Quando i gas velenosi non basteranno più, un uomo fatto come tutti gli altri, nel segreto di una stanza di questo mondo, inventerà un esplosivo incomparabile, in confronto al quale gli esplosivi attualmente esistenti saranno considerati quali innocui giocattoli. Ed un altro uomo fatto anche lui come tutti gli altri, ma degli altri un po’ più ammalato, ruberà tale esplosivo e s’arrampicherà al centro della terra per porlo nel punto ove il suo effetto potrà essere il massimo. Ci sarà un’esplosione enorme che nessuno udrà e la terra ritornata alla forma di nebulosa errerà nei cieli priva di parassiti e di malattie.
[La coscienza di Zeno, 1923]”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“In psychoanalysis there is never repetition, neither of the same images nor”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“The sun didn’t illuminate me! When you are old, you remain in shadow, even when you have wit.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

“é un modo comodo di vivere quello di credersi grande di una grandezza latente.”
― Italo Svevo, quote from Zeno's Conscience

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“That's arrogance, Harry. " he said, gently. "On a level so deep, you don't even realize it exists. And do you know why it's there?" "No?" I asked. He smiled again. "Because you have set a higher standard for yourself. You think that, because you have more power than others, you have to do more with it." "To whom much is given, much is required," I said, without looking up. He barked out a short laugh. "For someone who repeatedly tells me he has no faith, you have a surprising capacity to quote scripture. And that's just my point." I eyed him. "What?" "You wouldn't be twisting yourself into knots like this, Harry, if you didn't care." "So?" "Monsters don't care," Michael said. "The damned don't care, Harry. The only way to go beyond redemption is to choose to take yourself there. The only way to do it is to stop caring.”
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