Mario Giordano > Quotes

“You’ve got to make lists in life,’ Poldi advised me some weeks later. ‘Lists are magical--that’s because they develop a life of their own. Once you start one, it insists on being continued ad infinitum. You may cross out an item from time to time, but you’re never finished. A list is never complete, remember. One thing leads to another, and bingo--it contains items you’d never thought of before. And all because you started to write them down. That’s also the secret of writing in general: making a start, getting words down on paper. Just because it’s suddenly there in black and white on a sheet of paper, the written word develops genuine momentum. I tell you, lists are the mechanics of the subconscious”
― Mario Giordano

“Poldi was about to call again when she was attacked, out of the blue, by a very angry, very large gander. Hissing, with wings extended, it darted out from under the washing on the line and menaced Poldi, who in default of a walking stick, held the bird at bay with a barrage of Bavarian invective.”
― Mario Giordano

“Know what it’s like when you wake up in the morning and something is troubling you? An almost imperceptible change in the temperature? The wind has veered, the light is different, something is creeping up on you, the ice beneath your feet is creaking softly. Perhaps you had a bad dream that was meant to warn you, but you can’t remember it. There’s nothing left but this sense of unease that pursues you all day long, whispering unintelligibly in your ear.”
― Mario Giordano

“Non diamo nessun sostegno ai ciechi, ma li chiamiamo non vedenti; non diamo nessuna vera solidarietà ai sordi, ma li chiamiamo non udenti; le colf ora vengono definite collaboratrici domestiche, ma non c'è nessuno che collabora con loro; facciamo credere che sia oltraggioso dire agli anziani che sono vecchi, mentre l'unica cosa oltraggiosa è il modo in cui trattiamo la vecchiaia. Non certo come la chiamiamo.”
― Mario Giordano, Tromboni. Tutte le bugie di chi ha sempre la verità in tasca