“Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you.”

— Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979); tr. William Weaver (1981)

About Italo Calvino

1923 – 1985

Italian novelist, author of "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler".

“Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be.”

“Your first book already defines you, while you are really far from being defined.”

“It is true that software cannot exercise its powers of lightness except through the weight of hardware.”

“From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came into my Hands was ever laid out in Books.”

“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”

“Be attentive therefore, according to the instruction of the Gospel, to learn obedience from the lily and the bird.”

“I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right.”

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be.”

“Life consists in the alternate process of learning and unlearning; but it is often wiser to unlearn than to learn.”