Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Antonio Porchia (Italian Poet)

Antonio Porchia (1886–1968) was an Italian-born Argentine poet and author celebrated for his enigmatic work, Voices (“Voces” in Spanish,) which gained popularity through the efforts of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. His writings have drawn comparisons to Japanese haiku and shown affinity with various Zen schools of thought.

Born in Conflenti, Calabria, Italy, Porchia lived a mysterious and secluded life, leaving few details about his early years and personal history. In 1902, he immigrated to Argentina and settled in Buenos Aires. For most of his life, Porchia worked as a potter, a vocation that afforded him solitude and contemplation.

Despite lacking formal education, Porchia’s astute observations and introspective nature inspired him to craft aphoristic reflections on life, reality, and the human condition. For more than two decades, he committed himself to refining and expanding his collection of aphorisms, culminating in the publication of Voces (1943.) Porchia’s writing showcases his profound introspection and existential ponderings, delving into the complexities of solitude, the nature of reality, and the inherent contradictions of human existence.

Although Voces initially received limited attention, it experienced a resurgence in the 1960s thanks to the efforts of Julio Cortázar, an Argentine writer and literary critic. Voces has been translated into multiple languages and has significantly influenced revered figures in contemporary literature and thought, including André Breton, Jorge Luis Borges, Don Paterson, Roberto Juarroz, and Henry Miller.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Antonio Porchia

He who makes a paradise of his bread makes a hell of his hunger.
—Antonio Porchia

I have been my own disciple and my own master. And I have been a good disciple but a bad master.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Self-Control

Beyond my body my veins are invisible.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: The Body

My poverty is not complete: it lacks me.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Poverty

The real “it is well” is something I say from the ground, having fallen.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Attitude

Yes, one must suffer, even in vain, so as not to have lived in vain.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Adversity

If those who owe us nothing gave us nothing, how poor we would be.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Kindness

Everything that I bear within me bound, is to be found somewhere else free.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Self-Discovery

We tear life out of life to use it for looking at itself.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Life

Set out from any point. They are all alike. They all lead to a point of departure.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

A door opens to me. I go in and am faced with a hundred closed doors.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perseverance

Yes, this is what good is: to forgive evil. There is no other good.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Forgiveness

A hundred men together are the hundredth part of a man.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: People

Almost always it is the fear of being ourselves that brings us to the mirror.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Self-Discovery

Night is a world lit by itself.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Night

Situated in some nebulous distance I do what I do so that the universal balance of which I am a part may remain a balance.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Life

The chains that bind us most closely are the ones we have broken.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

My truths do not last long in me. Not as long as those that are not mine.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Truth

I love you as you are, but do not tell me how that is.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Love

When I look for my existence I do not look for it in myself.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Self-Discovery

Flowers are without hope. Because hope is tomorrow and flowers have no tomorrow.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Flowers

More grievous than tears is the sight of them.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Crying

Without this ridiculous vanity that takes the form of self-display, and is part of everything and everyone, we would see nothing, and nothing would exist.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Vanity

Sometimes at night I light a lamp so as not to see.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Self-Discovery

A large heart can be filled with very little.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Helping

The flower that you hold in your hands was born today and already it is as old as you are.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Time

He who does not know how to believe, should not know.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Belief

Following straight lines shortens distances, and also life.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Life, Follow

If you do not raise your eyes you will think that you are the highest point.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Memory

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