List of Alberto Moravia Quotes

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 To One's Feelings, To Make Confessions; From The Instinct Of Economy Which Sometimes Encourages A Writer To Make Good Use Of Even The Smallest Crumbs Of His Life, So That He May Have One More Book To Publish; Or Again From Vanity And Self- Satisfaction.

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 Is Living In A World In Which He Is A Means And Whose End Is Not His Business.

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 Falsifying And Fictionalizing—i’m A Liar, In Fact. That Means I’m A Novelist, After All. I Write About What I Know.

A Writer Survives In Spite Of His Beliefs.

Good Writers Are Monotonous, Like Good Composers. They Keep Trying To Perfect The One Problem They Were Born To Understand.

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 Revolt.

War Has Become An Affair Of Machines...and Soldiers Are Little More Than Clever Mechanics.

I Don't Think It's Possible To Write A Good Novel Around A Negative Personality.

You Can't Think On Purpose About Somebody Or Something. Either You Think About Them Naturally Or You Don't Think At All.

I Like To Compare My Method With That Of Painters Centuries Ago, Proceeding From Layer To Layer.

This Thought Strengthened In Me My Belief That All Men, Without Exception, Deserve To Be Pitied, If Only Because They Are Alive.

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 Sometimes Be Absolutely Loyal Without Loving. In Certain Cases, In Fact, Loyalty Is Form Of Vengeance, Of Black-mail, Of Recovering One's Self-respect. Loyalty, Not Love.