Moravia Quotes

It is what we are forced to do that forms our character, not what we do of our own free will. — Alberto Moravia

The ratio of literacy to illiteracy is constant, but nowadays the illiterates can read and write. — Alberto Moravia

The novel as we knew it in the nineteenth century was killed off by Proust and Joyce. — Alberto Moravia

When you aren't sincere you need to pretend, and by pretending you end up believing yourself; that's the basic principle of every faith. — Alberto Moravia

I do not foresee a time when I shall feel that I have nothing to say. — Alberto Moravia

You can't think on purpose about somebody or something. Either you think about them naturally or you don't think at all. — Alberto Moravia

And we all know love is a glass which makes even a monster appear fascinating. — Alberto Moravia

Dictatorships are one-way streets. Democracy boasts two-way traffic. — Alberto Moravia

A writer survives in spite of his beliefs. — Alberto Moravia

I like to compare my method with that of painters centuries ago, proceeding from layer to layer. — Alberto Moravia

The less one notices happiness, the greater it is. — Alberto Moravia

I don't think it's possible to write a good novel around a negative personality. — Alberto Moravia

Good writers are monotonous, like good composers. They keep trying to perfect the one problem they were born to understand. — Alberto Moravia

This thought strengthened in me my belief that all men, without exception, deserve to be pitied, if only because they are alive. — Alberto Moravia

War has become an affair of machines ... and soldiers are little more than clever mechanics. — Alberto Moravia

The dark realization came to him that a difficult and miserable age had begun for him, and he couldn't imagine when it would end. [Puberty] — Alberto Moravia

Every true writer is like a bird; he repeats the same song, the same theme, all his life. For me, this theme as always been revolt. — Alberto Moravia