“Silence is the language of all strong passions: love, even in its tender moments, anger, wonder, fear, and so on.”

Original: Il silenzio è il linguaggio di tutte le forti passioni, dell’amore (anche nei momenti dolci), dell’ira, della maraviglia, del timore ec. — Leopardi suggests that the strongest emotions can overwhelm language rather than find fulfilment in it. · Zibaldone, entry 142, 27 June 1820 (Italian)

• Emotion
• Language
• Silence

“Words like "far away" and "ancient" are intensely poetic and pleasing because they awaken vast, indefinite, indeterminate and hazy ideas.”

Original: Le parole lontano, antico e simili sono poeticissime e piacevoli, perché destano idee vaste e indefinite e non determinabili e confuse. — A concise statement of Leopardi's poetics of vagueness, distance and imaginative suggestion. · Zibaldone, entry 1789, 25 September 1821 (Italian)

• Imagination
• Language
• Poetry

“Nothing shows a lack of philosophy and wisdom more than wanting the whole of life to be wise and philosophical.”

Original: Nessun maggior segno d'essere poco filosofo e poco savio, che volere savia e filosofica tutta la vita. — A witty warning against allowing reflection and seriousness to crowd ordinary life out altogether. · Pensieri, XXVII, published posthumously in 1845 (Italian)

• Humour
• Life
• Wisdom