List of Eugenio Montale Quotes

For My Part, If I Consider Poetry As An Object, I Maintain That It Is Born Of The Necessity Of Adding A Vocal Sound (speech) To The Hammering Of The First Tribal Music.

There Is Poetry Even In Prose, In All The Great Prose Which Is Not Merely Utilitarian Or Didactic: There Exist Poets Who Write In Prose Or At Least In More Or Less Apparent Prose; Millions Of Poets Write Verses Which Have No Connection With Poetry.

There Is Also Poetry Written To Be Shouted In A Square In Front Of An Enthusiastic Crowd. This Occurs Especially In Countries Where Authoritarian Regimes Are In Power.

Strangely, Dante's Divine Comedy Did Not Produce A Prose Of That Creative Height Or It Did So After Centuries.

It Has Often Been Observed That The Repercussion Of Poetic Language On Prose Language Can Be Considered A Decisive Cut Of A Whip.

True Poetry Is Similar To Certain Pictures Whose Owner Is Unknown And Which Only A Few Initiated People Know.

Today Not Even A Universal Fire Could Make The Torrential Poetic Production Of Our Time Disappear. But It Is Exactly A Question Of Production, That Is, Of Hand-made Products Which Are Subject To The Laws Of Taste And Fashion.

Narrative Art, The Novel, From Murasaki To Proust, Has Produced Great Works Of Poetry.

But Poets Were Not Considered Dangerous And They Were Advised To Exercise Self-censorship. At Most, Poets Were Requested Not To Write At All. I Took Advantage Of This Negative Liberty.

Holidays - Have No Pity.

Art Is The Production Of Objects For Consumption, To Be Used And Discarded While Waiting For A New World In Which Man Will Have Succeeded In Freeing Himself Of Everything, Even Of His Own Consciousness.

Evidently The Arts, All The Visual Arts, Are Becoming More Democratic In The Worst Sense Of The Word.