Italo Calvino Quotes

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

In any work you do, you can be profound one minute, and then you be superficial the next, and you can be smart and insightful and then insipid. There can be room for all that.

Being funny is my biggest differentiator, and I think I'd be a fool not to use that, and there's nothing I enjoy personally more than making a human being laugh. But then, I also think I have a serious side to me.

There is gravity in wisdom, but no particular wisdom in gravity.

Simplicity is the outward sign and symbol of depth of thought.

The mistake that people make in stand-up is thinking they're profound or they're deep when there are so many people who have more worthwhile ways of phrasing things.

Its smallness is not petty; on the contrary, it is profound.

It would be terribly boring to be earnest.

I talk about very serious human affairs but with a lightness of heart.

Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.

He is far too intelligent to become really cerebral.

With comedy I can search for the profound.

I like to have fun and be funny, but I'm much more of a thinker.

I'm not on all the time. I like to have fun and be funny, but I'm much more of a thinker.

If the film is not emotional, then it operates on a superficial level.

I don't want to take myself too seriously, thinking that I'm always having to be this cathartic, intense and deep person, because I certainly enjoy silliness.

Deep and simple are far, far more important than shallow and complicated and fancy.

Making a film confusing does not make it intelligent.

A man who is invested takes the time to get to know you well, and his gifts will be a testament to his expert grasp of your likes and dislikes.

I think that there's always a time to be tongue-in-cheek, and there's always time for humor, but there's a time to be serious and a time for emotional content.

Deep water is what I am wont to swim in.

It's easy to be heavy; hard to be light.

I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood.

Profundity and originality are attributes of single, if not singular, minds.

I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood. Don't degrade me into the position of giving you useful information. Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.