Giovanni Papini

Destiny does not reign without the secret complicity of instinct and will.

I want to know everything. And I always find myself as before, as sad as life and as resigned as wisdom.

Every man pays for his greatness with many smallnesses, his victory with many defeats, his wealth with multiple bankruptcies.

Love is like a fire, if it is not communicated, it goes out.

There are those who have the desire to love, but not the ability to love.

If it is true that in every friend there is a potential enemy. Why can't it be that every enemy hides a friend who waits for their time?

When I was young, I almost always read to learn; today, sometimes, I read to forget.

If any man, even a vulgar one, knew how to narrate his own life, he would write one of the greatest novels ever written.

I fear only one enemy who is called, myself.

Excessive good health is disturbing, for its neighbor, illness, is always ready to bring it down.

Weapons are instruments for killing and Governments allow people to manufacture and buy them, knowing perfectly well that a revolver can be used in no way other than to kill someone.

Every man lives only for what he hopes.