Sprezzatura Quotes & Sayings

Practise in everything a certain nonchalance that shall conceal design and show that what is done and said is done without effort and almost without thought. — Baldassare Castiglione

He glanced at me, then chuckled. "Sprezzatura's an Italian word. Means the art of making something difficult look easy. — Joseph Finder

I saw myself as reviving a certain mode of life, a mode that had been almost lost: the contemplative life of the country gentleman, in harmony with his status and history. In Renaissance times they had called it sprezzatura. The idea was to do whatever one did with grace, to imbue one's every action with beauty, while at the same time making it look quite effortless. Thus, if one were to work at, say, law, one should raise it to the level of an art; if one were to laze, then one must laze beautifully. This, they said, was the true meaning of being an aristocrat. — Paul Murray

I have discovered a universal rule which seems to apply more than any other in all human actions or words: namely, to steer away from affectation at all costs, as if it were a rough and dangerous reef, and (to use perhaps a novel word for it) to practise in all things a certain nonchalance [sprezzatura] which conceals all artistry and makes whatever one says or does seem uncontrived and effortless. — Baldassare Castiglione

Only in recent history has "working hard" signaled pride rather than shame for lack of talent, finesse and, mostly, sprezzatura . — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

To be cool,
decisive,
precise,
yes,
while the barn door hits you in the face — Frank O'Hara