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

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

Yes, I will try to be. Because I believe that not being is arrogant.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Life

A full heart has room for everything and an empty heart has room for nothing.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

Truth has very few friends and those few are suicides.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Truth

They will say you are on the wrong road, if it is your own.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Criticism, Being True to Yourself, Critics

A little candor never leaves me. It is what protects me.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Honesty

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

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

All the suns labor to kindle your flame and a microbe puts it out.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

I am chained to the earth to pay for the freedom of my eyes.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

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

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

Out of a hundred years a few minutes were made that stayed with me, not a hundred years.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Life

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

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

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

In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Heart

Certainties are arrived at only on foot.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Certainty

When I believe in nothing I do not want to meet you when you believe in nothing.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Belief

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

I have come one step away from everything. And here I stay, far from everything, one step away.
—Antonio Porchia

Injury, when it is slight, upsets me; when it is strong it calms me.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

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

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

You can owe nothing, if you give back its light to the sun.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Light

Not using faults does not mean that one does not have them.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Self-Control

It is easier for me to see everything as one thing than to see one thing as one thing.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Perspective

I have scarcely touched the sky and I am made of it.
—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

He who has made a thousand things and he who has made none, both feel the same desire: to make something.
—Antonio Porchia
Topics: Action

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