Poets From Italy

"Why didn't they give us a life different from the one we live?"

"For me then, every encounter with a woman is like suddenly finding myself in front of an abyss, and with my eyes blindfolded. (From One year later, p. 215)"

"What we must do is not to be ashamed of feelings that are too great."

"Then remembering that the Viennese dancer had told me that after Modena, she would go to Bologna, and then to Ferrara, I resolved one evening to go to this city. I took the road to Finale (a bad road at the time). Near Medolla my car was stoned by a group of young fascists. Those were the times of economic sanctions, and the country fascists had tasked avant-gardists, and perhaps even balilla, with demonstrating against cars that dared to circulate anyway. These cars, according to propaganda, wasted the petrol necessary for the conquest of the Empire. I declare that I too had (for other sentimental reasons) a dislike for cars, so those stones cheered me up, and indeed inspired me with a bit of envy towards those boys: I would have liked to be one of them. Even today I would happily throw stones at cars. (From Introduction, pp. 79-80)"

"I went to Bologna on the trail of Stendhaliane days and I lost myself, with my heart squeezed like a sensitive hazelnut in his shell, in the itineraries of Dino Campana. If I had been a poet instead of a bourgeois on the road to disappointment, that would have been the time to write some poems. I left Florence around midday and an hour later I was in Bologna. I wandered around all the streets and when I couldn't stand it anymore due to tiredness, I went to the station and took the first train to Florence: this also happened at two or three in the morning. The strangeness was this: that being in Florence, I ignored Florence and got to know Bologna. (From Introduction, pp. 93-94)"

"If it weren't for the suffering of others to make us laugh, we would never laugh."

"(In parentheses I declare my hatred for all those who for Rome or from Rome wanted, against me and against many other Italians, to sow the seed of dejection on my - on our - proud feeling of not being born in Rome, not to live in Rome, and on my - our - impression that in Rome, and only in Rome, one finds that given form of life that the demeaners of this century call province and provincialism). (From Introduction, pp. 71-92)"

"It is necessary, in humanity, to use all those means that liberate and console as much as possible the conscious souls, poor or rich."

"Meanwhile, a Barbery organ, the sound of which reached me from the courtyard of a house in Via Campanoni, changed the course of my reveries. Looking inside the bookcase I realized that the girl was no longer there. (From One year later, p. 214)"

"A writer is always someone, to me, who has failed at something else in life."

"She took a long sigh and slowly stood up. Big and heavy, with a wide and long gray skirt with black stripes, and a dark, all-worked blouse that smelled like a closed cupboard with biscuits forgotten inside. (From The Milliner, p. 123)"

"I was promoted to serf (that's progress). (From Diaries, 1927-1961)"

"Antonio Delfini, Diari, 1927-1961, edited by Giovanna Delfini and Natalia Ginzburg, Einaudi, 1982."

"Thought is prophecy and memory. life is the future and the past. Life is never present. The present never is. (From Diaries, 1927-1961)"

"Antonio Delfini, Poems of the end of the world, Feltrinelli, 1961."

"Antonio Delfini, Piccolo libro dense, in Gino Ruozzi, Italian writers of aphorisms, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore."

"Antonio Delfini, The memory of the Basque, Nistri - Lischi, Pisa, 1956."

"The moon is like freedom: it is in the sky and at the bottom of the well."

"We want to change the world, or change its place. (From Notes of a Stranger, Marka, 1990)"

"Let him who has committed one mortal sin cast a glance upon the Hell which he has deserved, and thus will he suffer with patience every contempt and every pain."

"The hope of those who commit sin because God is forgiving, is an abomination in his sight: their hope, says holy Job, is an abomination. Hence the sinner, by such hope, provokes God to chastise him the sooner, as that servant would provoke his master, who, because his master was good, took advantage of his goodness to behave ill."

"He who builds a house for himself takes great pains to make it commodious, airy, and handsome, and says: “I labour and give myself a great deal of trouble about this house, because I shall have to live in it all my life.” And yet how little is the house of eternity thought of!"

"“Cogitanti omnia vilescunt” He who thinks, undervalues all things."

"The soul enters eternity alone and unattended, except by its works. Woe to me! where are my works to accompany me to a blessed eternity? I can discover none but such as render me deserving of eternal torments."

"[Regarding Origen] His name was so famous at that time that all the priests and doctors consulted him in any difficult matter... Those, he says, who adhere to the letter of the Scripture will never see the kingdom of God, hence we should seek the spirit of the word, which is hidden and mysterious. p. 46... He taught many other erroneous opinions; in fact his doctrine is entirely infected with the maxims of Plato, Pythagoras, and the Manicheans. p. 48... After the death of Origen his followers disturbed the Church very much by maintaining and propagating his errors... Finally, in the twelfth canon of the second council of Constantinople, both Origen and all those who would persist in defending his doctrine were condemned. p. 49"

"While others amass the fortunes of this world, may my only fortune be Thy holy grace."

"Ungrateful soul, not to forego its own miserable gratifications, it consented to lose God."

"The preacher should often speak of the love which Jesus Christ bears towards us, of the love which we should bear to Jesus Christ, and of the confidence we should have in his mercy whenever we are resolved to amend our lives. It would appear that some preachers do not know how to speak of anything but the justice of God, terrors, threats, and chastisements. There is no doubt but that terrifying discourses are of use to arouse sinners from the sleep of sin; but we should be persuaded at the same time, that those who abstain from sin solely through the fear of punishment, will with difficulty persevere for a long time. Love is that golden link which binds the soul to God, and makes it faithful in repelling temptation and practising virtue."

"With regard to the subject matter of sermons. Those subjects should be selected which move most powerfully to detest sin and to love God; whence the preacher should often speak of the last things—of death, of judgment, of Hell, of Heaven, and of eternity. According to the advice of the Holy Spirit, “Memorare novissima tua, et in æternum non peccabis,” (Ecclesiasticus 7:40,) it is particularly useful often to make mention of death, by delivering several discourses on that subject during the year, speaking at one time on the uncertainty of death, which terminates all the pleasures as well as all the afflictions of this life; at another, on the uncertainty of the time at which death may arrive; now, on the unhappy death of the sinner; and again, on the happy death of the just."

"At death all our hope of salvation will come from the testimony of our conscience as to whether or not we are dying resigned to God’s will."

"Let us examine in what true wisdom consists, and we shall see, in the first point, that sinners are truly foolish, and, in the second, that the saints are truly wise."

"My Jesus, I love Thee with my whole heart, and I desire to be always united with Thee. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, I receive Thee spiritually. Come, then, into my heart; I embrace Thee, and unite myself wholly to Thee, and I beg Thee not to permit me to be ever separated from Thee."

"“But one thing is necessary,” (Luke 10:42), and it is not beauty, not health, not talent. It is the salvation of our immortal souls."

"If then we would be saved, we must, even until death, have our lips ever opened to pray and say: "My God, help me; my God, have mercy; Mary, have mercy." If we cease to pray, we shall be lost. Let up pray for ourselves and let us pray for sinners, for this is so pleasing to God."

"Ad Jesum per Mariam."

"Prayer must be humble: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Here St. James tells us that God does not listen to the prayers of the proud, but resists them; while, on the other hand, he is always ready to hear the prayers of the humble."

"Di queste case non è rimasto che qualche brandello di muro Di tanti che mi corrispondevano non è rimasto neppure tanto Ma nel cuore nessuna croce manca È il mio cuore il paese più straziato."

"Chiuso fra cose mortali (Anche il cielo stellato finirà) Perché bramo Dio?"

"Il vero amore è come una finestra illuminata in una notte buia. Il vero amore è una quiete accesa."

"[Hai un mito, una persona che ammiri più delle altre, con la quale ti piacerebbe collaborare?] Non ho un mito in particolare, mi piacerebbe collaborare con qualsiasi persona che riesce ad esprimere la propria creatività attraverso ciò che sente nel cuore e nell'anima."

"[Qual è secondo te il ruolo del DJ oggi?] Il ruolo di sempre, trasmettere tramite la musica pure emozioni, energia e passione."

"[Oltre alla musica hai qualche altra passione?] Si, amo scrivere aforismi e pensieri che nascono principalmente da esperienze e momenti vissuti giorno per giorno."

"[La tua consolle ideale qual è?] La classica consolle formata da 2 giradischi Technics Sl 1200 ed un mixer, però devo ammettere che mi adatto facilmente ad ogni altro tipo di consolle o attrezzatura."

"[Parlaci dei tuoi inizi, come nasci artisticamente?] Come ho detto in precedenti interviste, non c'è un punto d'inizio ben preciso, è una passione che nasce con me, è nel mio DNA e mi viene tutto magistralmente facile. Poi, come tutti ho iniziato in feste private con gli amici e quando suonavo i dischi di altri artisti e la gente si esaltava, ho pensato quanto sarebbe stato bello se queste emozioni la gente le potesse provare ballando e ascoltando delle mie canzoni!"

"[I 3 aggettivi per definire il tuo sound?] Allegro, emozionante e travolgente."

"[Un aneddoto della tua carriera?] "Divertirsi è un'arte e il segreto è giocare DJ"."

"[Cosa pensi della pirateria musicale?] Uccide la musica! Quindi, tutto ciò che è pura emozione."

"[Come nascono le tue song?] Le mie song nascono dal nulla, spontanee, niente di studiato a tavolino, di solito è di notte che l'ispirazione mi porta delle buone idee... magari sono in qualsiasi punto del mio studio e canticchio, canticchio e poi esclamo: "Mmm carino questo motivo...". Se la mattina seguente il motivetto mi rimane in mente allora vuol dire che ha delle potenzialità! Il passo successivo è quello di buttare degli accordi con la tastiera e registrare una demo con la mia voce, sulla quale poi lavorarci tranquillamente."

"[Qual è il disco che più ti rappresenta?] Non ce n'è uno in particolare che più mi rappresenta, qualsiasi disco che produco, compongo, remixo o seleziono mi rappresenta."

"[Se tornassi indietro eviteresti di...] Lavorare e dar fiducia a persone decisamente false e scorrette. "Amo chi osa, odio chi usa"."