--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It can also be useful to politics…" description: "\"“It can also be useful to politics, enabling that science to discover how much of it is no more than verbal construction, myth, literary tops. Politics..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/italo-calvino-402_economic-system_it-can-also-be-useful-to-politics-enabli_1630531.jpg" --- # It can also be useful to politics, enabling that science… ![“It can also be useful to politics, enabling that science to discover how much of it is no more than verbal construction, myth, literary tops. Politics, like literature, must above all know itself and distrust itself. As a final observation, I should like to add that it is impossible today for…” quote by Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/italo-calvino-402_economic-system_it-can-also-be-useful-to-politics-enabli_1630531.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/italo-calvino-402_economic-system_it-can-also-be-useful-to-politics-enabli_1630531.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/italo-calvino-402_economic-system_it-can-also-be-useful-to-politics-enabli_1630531.jpg) > ““It can also be useful to politics, enabling that science to discover how much of it is no more than verbal construction, myth, literary tops. Politics, like literature, must above all know itself and distrust itself. As a final observation, I should like to add that it is impossible today for anyone to feel innocent, if in whatever we do or say we can discover a hidden motive - that of a white man, or a male, or the possessor of a certain income, or a member of a given economic system, or a sufferer from a certain neurosis - this should not induce in us either a universal sense of guilt or an attitude of universal accusation. When we become aware of our disease or of our hidden motives, we have already begun to get the better of them. What matters is the way in which we accept our motives and live through the ensuing crisis. This is the only chance we have of becoming different from the way we are - that is, the only way of starting to invent a new way of being.”” [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Politics mirrors literature in that both must self‑examine; recognizing hidden motives prevents universal guilt and enables personal transformation. **In simple terms:** Politics and literature need self‑knowledge to avoid blame. Key Takeaway Identify motives, then act responsibly. Themes self‑awareness politics literature motivation ethical behavior Mood introspective philosophical Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - policy analysis - creative writing - personal reflection Key Concepts critical theory identity politics psychology social critique Questions to Reflect On - How do hidden motives shape your decisions? - Can self‑knowledge change societal outcomes? A Different Perspective The essay is philosophical, not empirical. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Economic system](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economic-system/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Motives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motives/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [“To be logical you have to dig up and face your own hidden motives and emotions, and of course they're hidden principally because you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-francis/to-be-logical-you-have-to-dig-up-and-face-your-own-hidden-motives-and/) [Dick Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-francis/) > [The greater part of our daily actions are the result of hidden motives which escape our observation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-le-bon/the-greater-part-of-our-daily-actions-are-the-result-of-hidden/) [Gustave Le Bon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-le-bon/) > [Having spent half my time at university studying English literature, I know from experience that reading lists often contain more white men than Jacob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nish-kumar/having-spent-half-my-time-at-university-studying-english-literature-i/) [Nish Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nish-kumar/) > [Google "brooklyn writer" and you'll get, Did you mean: the future of literature as we know it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colson-whitehead/google-brooklyn-writer-and-you-ll-get-did-you-mean-the-future-of/) [Colson Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colson-whitehead/) > [In literature, you know only what you imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-imagine/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [“It’s only literature, I know, but it does something, or at least it says something.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-alghamdi/it-s-only-literature-i-know-but-it-does-something-or-at-least-it-says/) [Alaa Alghamdi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-alghamdi/) > [The poem is at last between two persons instead of two pages. 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I believe I've killed most of them”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dmitry-dyatlov/motives-are-like-little-flies-flying-around-in-my-room-i-believe-i-ve/) [Dmitry Dyatlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dmitry-dyatlov/) > [Getting down to the nitty-gritty, most people are motivated by unconscious motives most of the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/getting-down-to-the-nitty-gritty-most-people-are-motivated-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It is usual to explain the motivation of those who enjoy dangerous activities as some sort of pathological need: they are trying to exorcise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/it-is-usual-to-explain-the-motivation-of-those-who-enjoy-dangerous/) [Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/) > [“People have motives, what they are, is what you need to notice.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-d-walker/people-have-motives-what-they-are-is-what-you-need-to-notice/) S.D. Walker > [It is hard to work for years with pure motives, and all the time be looked upon by most of those to whom our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-livingstone/it-is-hard-to-work-for-years-with-pure-motives-and-all-the-time-be/) [David Livingstone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-livingstone/) > [Behind many acts that are thought ridiculous there lie wise and weighty motives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/behind-many-acts-that-are-thought-ridiculous-there-lie-wise-and/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [You can drive yourself crazy trying to peer into a person's soul--or you can do the sensible thing: ask not what inner motives drive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-begala/you-can-drive-yourself-crazy-trying-to-peer-into-a-person-s-soul-or/) [Paul Begala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-begala/) ## More by Italo Calvino > [“(one would say yes, if not every day, at least fairly regularly), whether only for yourself or also for others (often only for yourself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italo-calvino/one-would-say-yes-if-not-every-day-at-least-fairly-regularly-whether/) [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) > [“The Great Khan tried to concentrate on the game: but now it was the game’s reason that eluded him. 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