All Alberto Moravia Quotes
- When I sit at my table to write, I never know what it's going to be until I'm under way. I trust in inspiration, which… Back Waiting
- Because the world to-day is so constructed that no one can do what he would like to do, and he is forced, instead, to do… Always Intrudes
- It is what we are forced to do that forms our character, not what we do of our own free will. Character
- Good writers are monotonous, like good composers. They keep trying to perfect the one problem they were born to understand. Born
- In life there are no problems, that is, objective and external choices; there is only the life which we do not resolve as a problem… Choices
- The ratio of literacy to illiteracy is constant, but nowadays the illiterates can read and write. Constant
- War has become an affair of machines...and soldiers are little more than clever mechanics. Affair
- Yes, one uses what one knows, but autobiography means something else. I should never be able to write a real autobiography; I always end by… Able
- I don't think it's possible to write a good novel around a negative personality. Good
- I like to compare my method with that of painters centuries ago, proceeding from layer to layer. Ago
- Our ideals, laws and customs should be based on the proposition that each generation in turn becomes the custodian rather than the absolute owner of… Absolute
- The novel as we knew it in the nineteenth century was killed off by Proust and Joyce. Century
- Modern man-whether in the womb of the masses, or with his workmates, or with his family, or alone-can never for one moment forget that he… Alone
- A writer survives in spite of his beliefs. Belief
- There are many reasons for keeping a diary: to make a note of facts that one considers important; to open one's heart, to give vent… Book
- You can't think on purpose about somebody or something. Either you think about them naturally or you don't think at all. All
- Loyalty, Signor Molteni, not love. Penelope is loyal to Ulysses but we do not know how far she loved him...and as you know people can… Absolutely
- This thought strengthened in me my belief that all men, without exception, deserve to be pitied, if only because they are alive. Alive
- And we all know love is a glass which makes even a monster appear fascinating. All
- ...my boredom might be described as a malady affecting external objects and consisting of a withering process; an almost instantaneous loss of vitality--just as though… Affecting
- Every true writer is like a bird; he repeats the same song, the same theme, all his life. For me, this theme as always been… All
- When you aren't sincere you need to pretend, and by pretending you end up believing yourself; that's the basic principle of every faith. Basic
- An uncertain evil causes anxiety because, at the bottom of one's heart, one goes on hoping till the last moment that it may not be… Anxiety
- Dictatorships are one-way streets. Democracy boasts two-way traffic. Boast