Eugenio Montale Quotes

A collection of quotes by Eugenio Montale.

Eugenio Montale (1896-1981) was an Italian poet, essayist, and critic who is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century. Born in Genoa, Italy, Montale studied at the University of Turin and later served in the Italian army during World War I.

Montale gained recognition for his poetic skill and innovative style, characterized by his ability to intertwine personal introspection, philosophical reflections, and social commentary. His poems often explored themes of solitude, loss, and the complexities of human existence. Montale's works, influenced by the symbolist and hermetic traditions, are also known for their linguistic richness and experimentation with form.

In 1925, Montale published his first poetry collection, "Cuttlefish Bones," which received critical acclaim. Throughout his career, he produced numerous acclaimed poetry collections, including "The Occasions" (1939), "The Storm and Other Things" (1956), and "Satura" (1971). Montale was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975, recognizing his profound contribution to Italian poetry.

Beyond his poetic endeavors, Montale worked as a journalist and literary critic, publishing essays that explored various aspects of art, culture, and society. He also translated works by renowned poets such as William Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound into Italian.

Eugenio Montale's poetic legacy continues to inspire and captivate readers worldwide, making him one of the most celebrated Italian literary figures of the 20th century.

I do not go in search of poetry. I wait for poetry to visit

I do not go in search of poetry. I wait for poetry to visit me.

Eugenio Montale

I have been judged to be a pessimist but what abyss of ignor

I have been judged to be a pessimist but what abyss of ignorance and low egoism is not hidden in one who thinks that Man is the god of himself and that his future can only be triumphant?

Eugenio Montale

This proves that great lyric poetry can die, be reborn, die

This proves that great lyric poetry can die, be reborn, die again, but will always remain one of the most outstanding creations of the human soul.

Eugenio Montale

Narrative art, the novel, from Murasaki to Proust, has produ

Narrative art, the novel, from Murasaki to Proust, has produced great works of poetry.

Eugenio Montale

Mass communication, radio, and especially television, have a

Mass communication, radio, and especially television, have attempted, not without success, to annihilate every possibility of solitude and reflection.

Eugenio Montale

Man cannot produce a single work without the assistance of t

Man cannot produce a single work without the assistance of the slow, assiduous, corrosive worm of thought.

Eugenio Montale

The new man is born too old to tolerate the new world. The p

The new man is born too old to tolerate the new world. The present conditions of life have not yet erased the traces of the past. We run too fast, but we still do not move enough. He looks but he does not contemplate, he sees but he does not think. He runs away from time, which is made of thought, and yet all he can feel is his own time, the present.

Eugenio Montale

Twentieth Century

The most dangerous aspect of present-day life is the dissolu

The most dangerous aspect of present-day life is the dissolution of the feeling of individual responsibility. Mass solitude has done away with any difference between the internal and the external, between the intellectual and the physical.

Eugenio Montale

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Eugenio Montale

Happiness, for you we walk on a knife edge. To the eyes you

Happiness, for you we walk on a knife edge. To the eyes you are a flickering light, to the feet, thin ice that cracks and so may no one touch you who loves you.

Eugenio Montale

However, poetry does not live solely in books or in school a

However, poetry does not live solely in books or in school anthologies.

Eugenio Montale

There is also poetry written to be shouted in a square in fr

There is also poetry written to be shouted in a square in front of an enthusiastic crowd. This occurs especially in countries where authoritarian regimes are in power.

Eugenio Montale

Slowly poetry becomes visual because it paints images, but i

Slowly poetry becomes visual because it paints images, but it is also musical: it unites two arts into one.

Eugenio Montale

There is poetry even in prose, in all the great prose which

There is poetry even in prose, in all the great prose which is not merely utilitarian or didactic: there exist poets who write in prose or at least in more or less apparent prose millions of poets write verses which have no connection with poetry.

Eugenio Montale

For my part, if I consider poetry as an object, I maintain t

For my part, if I consider poetry as an object, I maintain that it is born of the necessity of adding a vocal sound (speech) to the hammering of the first tribal music.

Eugenio Montale

True poetry is similar to certain pictures whose owner is un

True poetry is similar to certain pictures whose owner is unknown and which only a few initiated people know.

Eugenio Montale

Poetry is the art which is technically within the grasp of e

Poetry is the art which is technically within the grasp of everyone: a piece of paper and a pencil and one is ready.

Eugenio Montale