What Romantic terminology called genius or talent or inspiration is nothing other than finding the right road empirically, following ones nose, taking shortcuts. – Italo Calvino
When politicians and politically minded people pay too much attention to literature, it is a bad sign — a bad sign mostly for literature. But it is also a bad sign when they dont want to hear the word mentioned. – Italo Calvino
Biographical data, even those recorded in the public registers, are the most private things one has, and to declare them openly is rather like facing a psychoanalyst. – Italo Calvino
The ideal place for me is the one in which it is most natural to live as a foreigner. – Italo Calvino
The thing you cant let go of is gravity. The reality of gravity in writing. If someone says something really mean in a sitcom, and the next wave isnt a reaction to the reality of that, you start losing relatability. In a lot of romantic comedies, they throw out the rules of life. – Michael Patrick King