A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

Un classico è un libro che non ha mai finito di dire quel che had a dire.

Italo Calvino

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of literature Books

Author

Italo Calvino

Source

L'Espresso

Medium

Magazine

Language

Italian

Time

1981 1980s 20th century

Occupation

Journalist Writer

From

Italy Europe

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Calvino, Italo. "Perché leggere i classici? [Why Read the Classics?]" L'Espresso, 28 June 1981.

Current Citation

Calvino, Italo. Why Read the Classics? Penguin Classics, 2009.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Italo Calvino about power of literature: “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to…”
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A quote by Italo Calvino about power of literature: “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to…”
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A quote by Italo Calvino about power of literature: “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1980s

To remember everything is a condition of madness.

Brian Friel

More information about this quote
Topic
Memory
Speaker
Hugh

Author

Brian Friel
Medium
Play
Language
English
Time
1980 1980s 20th century
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Friel, Brian. Translations, dir. Art O'Briain. 23 Sept. 1980,Guildhall, Derry, Northern Ireland, UK, act 3.

Another quote about Power of literature

When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.

Clifton Fadiman

More information about this quote
Topic
Power of literature Books

Author

Clifton Fadiman
Language
English
Time
1957 1950s 20th century
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Fadiman, Clifton. Any Number Can Play. The World Publishing Company, 1957.

Another quote originally in Italian

Philosophy is written in this grand book-I mean the universe-which stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth.

Galileo Galilei

More information about this quote
Topic
Mathematics

Author

Galileo Galilei
Language
Italian
Time
1623 1620s 17th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Galilei, Galileo. Il Saggiatore [The Assayer]. Rome, 1623.

Current Citation

Galilei, Galileo. "The Assayer." Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo. Doubleday & Company, 1957.