Botta Quotes & Sayings

Nothing fills the world quite as poetry does. A poet need not dwell on the pagecount of his life. — D.A. Botta

Like a father with his daughter, the writist plays peek-a-boo with the world. His aim is to evoke that sweet smile, the one that says "i remember you. I am glad you are here again". — D.A. Botta

I have yet to find that one perfect phrase that epitomizes all the mysteries of the universe. Luckily, I doubt to ever pen it in this lifetime, for then the seeking ends; miserable is the day the adventure ends. — D.A. Botta

Cave basilischium! The rex of serpenti, tant pleno of poison that it all shines dehors! Che dicam, il veleno, even the stink comes dehors and kills you! Poisons you ... And it has black spots on his back, and a head like a coq, and half goes erect over the terra, and half on the terra like the other serpents. And it kills the bellula ... '
'The bellula?'
'Oc! Parvissimum animal, just a bit plus longue than the rat, and also called the musk-rat. And so the serpe and the botta. And when they bite it, the bellula runs to the fenicula or to the cicerbita and chews it, and comes back to the battaglia. And they say it generates through the oculi, but most say they are wrong.'
I asked him what he was doing with a basilisk and he said that was his business. — Umberto Eco

What is the proper limit for wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary; and, second, to have what is enough. — Seneca The Elder

Architecture is the constant fight between man and nature, the fight to overwhelm nature, to possess it. The first act of architecture is to put a stone on the ground. That act transforms a condition of nature into a condition of culture; it's a holy act. — Mario Botta

To write what you think is to think what you write. Leave those of hollow to their dust. They are but sorry things. — D.A. Botta

It is an awesome tragedy in this life that, when asking what a person is and they reply doctor or lawyer or engineer, we don't say Well thats a nice little hobby, but why don't you take up writing or painting or music? — D.A. Botta

Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose; if you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved. — Michel De Montaigne

Course I hardly knew him - saw him sometimes in the break room, once or twice in the shitter, that's — Lauren Oliver

The trouble with a baby, for writists, is that they take away your useful melancholy, even the energy to invent some. — D.A. Botta

The first gesture of an architect is to draw a perimeter; in other words, to separate the microclimate from the macro space outside. This in itself is a sacred act. Architecture in itself conveys this idea of limiting space. It's a limit between the finite and the infinite. From this point of view, all architecture is sacred. — Mario Botta

The Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), which controls the living environment on shuttles and on the International Space Station, doesn't have the luxury of disposal: discharging trash into space has long been judged a bad idea. — Rose George

I haven't written in a week. It's like holding your breath under water. You feel an awful constriction and then the instinct to propel yourself. — D.A. Botta

Letting go meant you accepted what couldn't be changed. You didn't try to hold on to hope in order to coerce a change in fortune ... nor did you battle against superior forces of fate and try to make them capitulate to your will ... nor did you beg for salvation because you assumed you knew better. Letting go meant you stared at what was before you with clear eyes, recognizing that unfettered choice was the exception and destiny the rule. — J.R. Ward