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Meaning
The quote says that a true classic keeps feeling fresh no matter how many times you return to it. Each rereading should still reveal something new, instead of becoming dull or fully known. It values books that continue to reward attention over time.
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Who It Was Said To
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Historical Context
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Source
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Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
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About Italo Calvino
Italian novelist and short story writer
Italo Calvino was an Italian novelist and short story writer. He is best known for the Our Ancestors trilogy, published between 1952 and 1959, and for later works such as Cosmicomics, Invisible Cities, and If on a winter's night a traveler. His fiction includes the three novels in Our Ancestors, the short story collection Cosmicomics, and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler. These works show the range of his imagination across fiction in different forms, from linked narratives to brief stories and more experimental novels.
More from Italo Calvino (155 quotes) →Other sayings from Italo Calvino
- “The catalogue of forms is endless: until every shape has found its city, new cities will continue to be born.…”Italo Calvino
- “The things that the novel does not say are necessarily more numerous than those it does say and only a specia…”Italo Calvino
- “I am more and more convinced that literature is made up of works, genres, schools, discussions, problems, col…”Italo Calvino
- “I'm terrified of writing at night, for then I can't sleep. So I start slowly, slowly writing in the morning a…”Italo Calvino
Explore Discovery
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Books by Italo Calvino
Marcovaldo, ovvero Le stagioni in città
1966
Le città invisibili
1998
Il barone rampante
1959
I nostri antenati
1960
Sous le soleil jaguar
1990