QuoteProject
Man cannot produce a single work without the assistance of the slow, assiduous, corrosive worm of thought.
Eugenio Montale
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Thought is essential for creativity and production.

Eugenio Montale emphasizes the importance of deep, reflective thinking in the creative process. The 'worm of thought' signifies the persistent and often laborious nature of contemplating ideas, suggesting that meaningful work cannot be achieved without the thorough mulling over of thoughts and concepts.

Themes

ThoughtCreativityReflectionWorkPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a creative writing workshop to emphasize the importance of introspection.

More from Eugenio Montale

But poets were not considered dangerous and they were advised to exercise self-censorship. At most, poets were requested not to write at all. I took advantage of this negative liberty.
Eugenio MontaleRead
There is poetry even in prose, in all the great prose which is not merely utilitarian or didactic: there exist poets who write in prose or at least in more or less apparent prose; millions of poets write verses which have no connection with poetry.
Eugenio MontaleRead
Mass communication, radio, and especially television, have attempted, not without success, to annihilate every possibility of solitude and reflection.
Eugenio MontaleRead
It has often been observed that the repercussion of poetic language on prose language can be considered a decisive cut of a whip.
Eugenio MontaleRead
I have always knocked at the door of that wonderful and terrible enigma which is life.
Eugenio MontaleRead
For my part, if I consider poetry as an object, I maintain that it is born of the necessity of adding a vocal sound (speech) to the hammering of the first tribal music.
Eugenio MontaleRead

Similar quotes

But for me the sweetest contact with God has no form. I close my eyes, look within, and enter a deep soft silence. The infinity of God's creation embraces me.
Michael JacksonRead
How you approach the problem of suffering depends on how you approach life itself. There are only two ways. Either meaning is surrounded by matter, or matter is surrounded by meaning.
Peter KreeftRead
Government has been a fossil: it should be a plant.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
One side-effect of the so-called war on terror has been a crisis of liberalism. This is not only a question of alarmingly illiberal legislation, but a more general problem of how the liberal state deals with its anti-liberal enemies.
Terry EagletonRead
Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
I went looking for embodiments of pure evil, but found ordinary people.
Joshua OppenheimerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.