Italo Calvino Quotes

Sometimes there is nothing you can do, and in those times, you must do something anyway.

I don't recognize hate, I don't recognize bitterness, I don't recognize jealousy, I don't recognize greed. I don't give them power. They don't exist to me.

I know that happy things and fun things eventually come to an end. But things that are scary and sad come to an end too...they always do. Even if you can't always believe that , please don't give up. Live.

I don't let the hate go to my heart, and I don't let the praise go to my head.

When I planted my pain in the field of patience it bore fruit of happiness.

No matter what, we always have the power to choose hope over despair, engagement over apathy, kindness over indifference, love over hate.

We can choose to be grateful, no matter what. This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer.

Difficulty creates the opportunity for self-reflection and compassion.

There is really only one way to deal with Misery. Accept her presence. Like most experiences in life, we must acknowledge the passage gracefully and let her move through our lives because she brings with her a hidden gift.

I don't put much pressure on myself, because I'm strong mentally.

Your struggle is your strength. If you can resist becoming negative, bitter or hopeless, in time, your struggles will give you everything.

Our attitude in the face of life's challenges determines our suffering or our freedom.

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an Ideal and strive to reach it.

When it gets harder to love, love harder.

I never listened to the people who said I should give it up, which is the main advice I got.

You can't. You just have to.

According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

Like the ocean that remains calm in its depths even when waves rage over its surface, and like the sun that continues shining on high even during storms, we can at each moment create value and develop our state of life, enjoying our existence to the fullest in times of both suffering and joy.

When the morning's freshness has been replaced by the weariness of midday, when the leg muscles give under the strain, the climb seems endless, and suddenly nothing will go quite as you wish it is then that you must not hesitate.

The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.

Accustom yourself to submit on all and every occasion, and on the most minute, no less than on the most important circumstances of life, to a small present evil, to obtain a greater distant good. This will give decision, tone, and energy to the mind, which, thus disciplined, will often reap victory from defeat and honor from repulse.

There are seldom, if ever, any hopeless situations, but there are many people who lose hope in the face of some situations.

Genuine transcendence doesn't just look away from human suffering and say, "I am at peace, so I'm at the mountaintop." Genuine transcendence looks human suffering in the eye and attains peace because of a faith in things unseen.

Life is not about gutting out every situation. It's about identifying opportunity or the lack thereof. If your pride is all that is standing in the way of quitting, quit. The right people won't care and the wrong people don't matter. If you know you're on the right path, persevere though the pain. It will be worth it.