Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (1798–1837) was an Italian poet, philosopher, essayist and philologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most radical and challenging thinkers of the 19th century. Although he lived in a secluded town in the ultra-conservative Papal States, he came in touch with the main thoughts of the Enlightenment, and, by his own literary evolution, created a remarkable and renowned poetic work, related to the Romantic era. The extraordinary lyrical quality of his poetry made him a central protagonist in the European and international literary and cultural landscape.
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It’s not our disadvantages or shortcomings that are ridiculous, but rather the studious way we try to hide them and our desire to act as if they did not exist.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Self-Knowledge, Awareness
Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: One liners, Children
People are ridiculous only when they fly or seem to be that which they are not.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Appropriateness, Aptness
I get up and I bless the light thin clouds and the first twittering of birds, and the breathing air and smiling face of the hills.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Gratitude
The end of pain we take as happiness.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Blessings
No human trait deserves less tolerance in everyday life, and gets less, than intolerance.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Tolerance
He who has the courage to laugh is almost as much a master of the world as he who is ready to die.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Courage
You can be happy indeed if you have breathing space from pain.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Blessings
In all climates, under all skies, man’s happiness is always somewhere else.
—Giacomo Leopardi
Topics: Opportunities, Reality
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