Zibaldone

by Leopardi, Giacomo

  Ideas, innate. 436,1. 1183,2. 1339,1. 1341,1. 1613,1. 1619,1. 2707–8. 4131–2. 4253,3.

  Ideas, physical ideas are accepted as not being innate; why then should moral and abstract ones be? 4253,3. How babies acquire their ideas. 4253.2.

  Ideas that people have of anything at all are never identical in any two individuals, or nations. 1706,1.

  Ideology. 1608,1. 2335,1. 2707–8.

  Idylls. 57,2. 2361,1.

  Ignorance. See Knowledge and Ignorance.

  Illnesses, bodily weakness, etc., produced by civilization, and by the culture of the mental faculties. 1597,1. 1631,2. 1699,2. 1775,1. 1803,1. 2544,1. 2454,2. 2686,1. 3058,3. 3179,1. 3568,1. 3643,1. 4025,1.

  Ills. Usefulness of and reason for ills in nature. 2599,1. 2661.1.

  Illusions. 51,1.2. 99,2. 102,2. 14,1. 21,5. 105,4. 125,1.2. 136,2. 160,2. 194,1.2. 195,2. 213,1. 232,1. 246,2.3. 270,3. 271,2. 274,1. 285,2. 293,1. 329,1. 333,1. 334,3. 351,2. 356. 357,1. 362,1. 375,1. 385–6. 393,1. 420,2. 436,1. 471,1. 474,2. 512,1. 520,1. 536,3. 611,1. 543,1. 633,1. 636,2. 653,1. 666,2. 678,3. 712,1. 717,3. 923,1. 1082,1. 1084,1. 1436,1. 1464,1. 1651,1. 1690,1. 1715,1. 1727,2. 1792,1. 1816,2. 1863,1. 1974,1. 2150,2. 2245,1. 2315,1. 2610,1. 2683,2. 2684,1. 2804,1. 3435,1. 3440,1. 3836,1. 3891,1. 3952,1. 3956,3. 3990,2. 4131–2. 4135,5. Passage from Menander. 4002,1.

  Images, various poetic, poems, translations, etc. 1,1.2.4. 5,3.4. 21,3. 23,3. 29,2. 36,1. 43,3. 47,1. 55,2.4.5. 58,4. 60,1. 63,2. 69,3.6. 74,1. 80,1.2. 85,1.4. 106,2. 228,2. 256,1.2. 280,1. 1744,1. 1927,2. 2257,2. 4165,9. 4172,8.9. 4293,4.

  Imagination. 666,2. 1045,1. 1448,1. 2132,1. See Reason and Imagination.

  Imagination, children’s. See Childhood.

  Imagination, the extent to which it serves philosophy. 1650,1. 1833,2. 1975,1. 2019,2. 2132,1. 3237,1. 3245,1. 3269,1. 3382,2. 3881,4.

  Imagination, strong Imagination and fertile Imagination. 152,2. 211,3.

  Imagination and Feeling. 703,4. 724,3. 1448,1. 1860,1. 3154,1.

  Imaginations of children and ancients. 57,3.

  Imitation, poetic, etc. 1302,1. 1303,1. 1991,1. 2857. 4235.

  Imitations of passion and action in the fine arts. 2361,1.

  Imitations. See Continuations.

  Immortality of the soul. 601,4. 826,1. 1615,2. 3027,2. 4277,1.

  Impatience. See Anger.

  Impatience about achieving a goal, increased by uncertainty. 369,1.

  Impatience, intolerance, in society. 3684,1.

  Imposture, necessary, etc. 1787,3.

  Inaction. Man never gets used to it. 1988,3.

  Inaction. Quiet and inactive life. Passage from Aristophanes, suitable as an epigraph for what I have written in favor of activity. 684,2.

  Inchoative (verbs), Latin: 3687,2. 4013,2. 4011,2. 4037,4. 4050,8. 4088,4. 4093,6. 4112,2.7. 4126,10. 4150,8.

  Inclination of man to measure others by himself. 1572,3. 1903,2. To suppose greater insight, value, and ability in someone else rather than oneself, to confide in and rely on that person. 4229,4. To vivacity, to life. 1684,1. 1716,2. 1780,1. 1798,2. 1944. 1988,3. 1999,1. 2017,3. 2041,1. 2118,1. 2336,1. 2337,1. 2361,1. 2415,2. 2433,1. 2499,1. 2546,1. 2759,1. 3191,1. 3556, margin. 3617,4. 3764,2. 3813,1. 3854,2. 3906. 4021,7. 4060,1. 4103,6.

  Inclinations in man are all the keener and more numerous the closer he is to the natural state, the opposite of Faculties. 2946,1.

  Incredulity, not a sign of great talent or knowledge. 539,1. 1055,3. 1391,1. 1392,1.

  Incredulity, religious. 1059,2.

  Indifference. 69,3. 381–2. 448–50. 484. 2601. 3942,2.

  Infinite. The world is not infinite; from the existence of the world it is not possible to deduce that of an infinite Being. 4141,4. 4274,3. 4292,1.

  Infinitive, used by the Greeks instead of the imperative. 2686,3. 3967,1. 4087,7.

  Influence of the body on the mind. 1719,1. 3197,1.

  Innocent. 51,4. Wicked. 276,1. 710,1.

  Insensitivity. See Compassion, Charity.

  Inspire. Desire, typical of men, to inspire something of oneself in spectators or listeners. 4284,1.

  Instinct. 436,1.

  Intelligence. See Habit.

  Interest on others’ behalf, has no space in those who are without hope. 1589,1. 3836,1. 4105,2. 4283,2. See Compassion, Charity.

  Interest in poetry, etc. 3095,2. 3482,1. 3590,1. 3768,1. 4255,6.

  Intolerance. See Impatience.

  Intrigue in plays, poems, etc. 2313,1. 3164. 3165–66. 3549.

  Invention. Faculty of invention. 1661,1. 1697,1. 2132,1.

  Invention in poetry and fine arts. 257,2.

  Inventions and discoveries of the advanced sciences, much less great, important, and difficult than the ancient. 2605,1. If inventions and civilization progress as seems likely, people 1,000 years from now will not understand how we could live; in the same way that we cannot understand how primitives lived, without fire, without navigation, etc. etc. 4198,1.

  Isocrates. 848–50. 1496. 2114. 2150,1. 2452. 2627. 2628,1.2. 2632. 3129–30. 3176. 3472,1. 4028–29. 4250,3.

  Italian (language and literature). See Literature, Italian. Language, Italian.

  Italian plurals in –a. 1180,2. 2864,3. 3978,4. 4005,4. 4018,6. 4020,6. 4021,6. 4029,3. 4046,5. 4055,2.4. 4061,4. 4087,2. 4093,1. 4110,1. 4120,2. 4123,13. 4125,7. 4126,2.5. 4135,2. 4148,1. 4151,2. 4154,7. 4156,2. 4160,5. 4165,8. 4166,13. 4190,5. 4243,7. 4246,12. 4257,9. 4261,1.

  Italy. Its state, customs, etc., ancient and modern. 1092,1. 2609,1. 2628,1. 3129, margin. 3471,1. 3855,1. 4031,1. 4053,3. 4261,2. 4265,1. 4267,2. It does not have customs, but usages. 2923,1. Every Italian has his own social tone. 3546,1.

  Itineraries. Descriptions of cities and provinces. Reports of Travels, etc., by the ancient Greeks. 4294,4.

  J

  Jews. Their language, literature, customs, laws, character, etc. etc. 806–7. 881–2. 935. 1229–30. 1285,1. 1441–4. 1710,1. 1969,1. 2005,1. 2084–5. 2253. 2263,2. 2404,1. 2464. 2615. 2627. 2909,2. 2910,1. 2912,1. 2995,2. 3022. 3342–3. 3902,4. 3959. 4152,4. 4290,2.

  Jokes, witticisms, various. 41,1. 43,1. 58,1. 67,1. 71,1. 106,3.4.[?] 185,2. 233,1. 256,1.2. 280,1. 334,1. 307,1. 342,1. 474,1. 663,1.2. 2396,2. 4019,4. 4137,2. 4140,2. 4167,9. 4172,8.9. 4188,8. 4286,5.

  Joy. 716,1. 2161,1. 2434,2. 2809, margin. 2905. 3310,1.

  Justinian Code. 303,2.

  K

  Knowledge. See Philosophy, ancient and modern. Height, etc.

  Knowledge, human. Its vanity and stupidity. 490,1. 1085,1. 1090,1. 1163,1. 2295–6. 2668,1. 2672,3. 2709,1. 2711,1. 2800,1. 3773,1. 4041,7. 4189,1. 4192,1. 4206,4.

  Knowledge, human, can never be certain. 1771,1.

  Knowledge, infused in man. 436,1.

  Knowledge and Ignorance. 246,2. 252,1. 274,1. 304,2. 314,1. 326,1. 331,1. 334,3. 349,1. 375,1. 378,1. 393,2. 420,2. 436,1. 520,1. 595,2. 651,1. 654,2. 866,1. 870,1. 925,2. 1175,1. 1252,2. 1262,2. 1464,1. 1825,1. 1981,2. 2245,1. 2292,1. 2390,1. 2391,1. 2554,1. 2292,1. 2390,1. 2391,1. 2554,1. 2672,2.3. 2684,1. 2685,3. 3899,1. 3993,1. 4041,7. 4135,5. 4206,4. Passage from Frederick II. 3954,1.

  L

  Lack of self-confidence. 960,1. 3188.

  Lamias. For the ancients, witches; for Italians of the fourteenth century, nymphs, etc. 2299,2. 2703,1.

  Language. One to start with, then divided. Philosophical history of languages. 1263,2. 2037,1. 2694,1. 3247,1. 3668,1. 3672,1. Difficulties in the way of the first invention of language and of speaking. 2895,2. The nature of the sounds of a language corresponds to the nature of that language. 2990. 3247,1. Difficulties in the way of possessing and managing one’s own language perfectly. 4082,2. See Letters and language.

  Language, cause of man’s superiority over animals. 1102,1. Influence of language on the process of civilization. 936,1. Invention of language. 1086,1.

  Language, Italian, previously studied by foreigners, etc. 653,1. 990,1. 1581,3. 3066,1. 3070,1. 4234,3. 4237,4. 4243,2. See Literature, Italian. Despised by the learned in fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. 2693,2. 3
741,1. Never applied to proper modern philosophy. 1316, 1. See Literature and language, Italian.

  Language, poetic, what it consists in, etc. etc. 3008,1.[3009,1.] 3413,1. 3633,1. 3749. 3864–5. 4214,3.

  Language, universal. 936,2. 1022,1. 3972,1. 4108,2. 1028,3. 3253,1. 3254,1. See Universality of languages.

  Language for literature, and language for philosophy, separated, suggested to Italy. 1356,2.

  Languages, ancient, how much bolder than modern. 2172,1. Beauty of languages is none other than boldness. 2415,3.

  Languages, spread over very small distances. 923,1. 1020,1. 1022,1. 1053,1. 1065,3. 1459,1. 1629,1. 1755,1. 1965,2. 3254,1. 3932,1. See Dialects. Knowing many, helps to think. 94,1. 1728,2. 2212,1 2231,2. Someone who could speak two languages was once a wonder. 4173,8. They are easier to understand in the older writers. 2112,1.

  Latin (language). See separate slips, with the title Latin (language). Grammatical, archaeological, etc., observations.

  Latin (language) after the rebirth of literary study; damage and delay to the progress of the human spirit; need for spoken languages to be applied to literature. 3336,1. 3338,1. See Greek (language).

  Latin (prose and poetry), bolder and more poetic than Greek. 2239,2.

  Latin, late can offer much to the Italian language. 952,1 1031,1. 1317,1. 1222.

  Latinists, Italian, of the sixteenth century, etc. 1023,2. 1066,2. 1973,1. 3024,2. 3336,1. 3338,1. 4240,2.

  Latins. See Romans.

  Laughing, familiar to man when he is more adult, and Crying the opposite. 4138,2.

  Laughter, needed in society, etc. 3360,1.

  Laughter of despair. 107,1. 188,1.

  Law of nations, public, universal right, etc. 2252,1. 2305,1. 2625,1. 2644,1. 2660,1.2. 2759,2. 3073,1. 3115,1. 3365,1. 3420,1. 4290,1.

  Laws of nature in physics, etc., are simply the facts that we know. Possibility is much greater than is believed. 4189,1.

  Laziness. 2702,1. See Negligence. Inaction, etc.

  Learning. See Habit.

  Legitimacy. See Rights of princes.

  Letters. Names of the letters of the alphabet. 30,2. 69,4. 802,1.[812,1.] 1164,1. 1338,3. 1346,3. 4082,4. See Alphabet.

  Letters (power of). 455,2.

  Letters and language, flourish together, are corrupted together. 3398–99. Letters compared with friends: good company, as long as you do not expect anything useful out of them. 268,2. See Sciences and Letters.

  Lexicon, universal, a suggestion for Europe. 1213,1. 1233,1. 1237,1. 1238,2. 1316,1. 1317,1. 1422,2. 1424,1. 1465,1. 1467,1.2. 1468,1. 1520,2. 1533,1. 1843,1. 1977–8. 2400,2. 2594,1. 2611,2. 2721,1–4. 3192,1. 3235,2. 3764,1. 4102,5. See Technical or scientific (words).

  Liberalism, is not modern. 1100,2.

  Life. Why we live. 273,2. 2549,1. It is not necessary. 925,1. What is life? 1476,2. Why are we born? 2607,1. See Birth of man. Love of life, grows like love of money. 2643,1. Metaphysical definition of life: man is the most alive of beings. 3381. Metaphysical observations on the essence and on the love of life. 3813,1. Allegorical definition of life. 4162,14. Passage from Aristotle. 3568,2. Principal good in life. 3895,1. 4043,2. Life is an evil in itself. 4043,2. Care of living. 4164,2. Love of life, not innate. 4242,1. The sum of life is equal in the μακροβιότατοι and in the βραχυβιότατοι of animals. 3511–14.

  Life, human, a comedy. 220,1. 663,1–2. Deplored by many of the ancients. 601,3. 2671,1. 2672,1. 2673,2. 2796,1. Loses something day by day. 636,2.

  Lie. Lying. 2386,2.

  Light. Its material influence on the mind and the imagination. 3387.

  Lightning conductors and protection against hail among the ancients. 4199,1.

  Literature. See Writing and Doing. Moderns cannot properly speaking have any. 1174,2. 1253,1. 1383,1. 2067,1. 2906,2. 2944,1.

  Literature, Italian. Views of foreigners about it. 653,1. 970–2. 974–5. 1003. 2312,3. 2648,1. 3884,1. 4234,3. 4237,4. 4249,1. 4267,1. See Language, Italian. Biblioteca italica, a French journal published in Geneva at the beginning of the last century. 4234,3.

  Literature, Italian, present-day. 724,3. 799–800. 838,1. 863,1. 865,1. 1024,3. 1057–9. 1093,1. 1513,1. 1518,1. 1543,1. 1997,1. 2166,1. 2363,2. 2395,2. 2508,1. 2517,1. 2529,1. 2611,2. 2648,1. 2663,1. 3192,1. 3388,1. 3418–9. 3465. 3471–2. 3749,2. 3829,1. 3855,1. 4066,1.

  Literature, modern. Important observations on the nothingness of style today, the impossibility of becoming immortal through literature, etc. etc. Passages from Pope, Buffon, etc. 4267,3. 4268,7. The greatest works of every literature were written when the nation did not yet have a literature. 4257,5.

  Literature and language, Italian, present-day. Sorry condition of a true man of letters in Italy. He has to create a modern language for Italy. Thoughts on this subject. 3318,1. 3830,1. 3855,1.

  Living beings, essentially suffering and unhappy, etc. 4133,2.

  Livy. See Tacitus.

  Longinus. 845–8. 997. 1495. 2632. 4027.

  Love. 59,1.2.3. 69,2. 496,2. 662,1. 666,1. 676,3. 678,1. 1017,1. 1083,1. 1319,1. 1356,1. 1431,1. 1882,1. 1885,1. 1880,1.2.3. 2481,2. 3301,1. 3443,1. 3596,1. 3955,1. 4293,2. A foreigner, man or woman, other things being equal, is more attractive than a co-national or fellow citizen, and why. 4293,2.

  Love, universal. 872,1. 923,1. 1710,1. 1823,1. 2759,2. 4104,4.

  Love of country. 67,4. 123,2. 133,1. 148,2. 150,2.3. 151,1.2. 457,1. 540,1. 542,1. 872,1. 923,1. 1361,3. 1715,2. 1723,1. 2574,1. 2628,1. 2677,1. 3029,1.

  Love of life. Its metaphysical definition, etc. 4127,9. See Life.

  Love of one’s fellows. 133,1. 536,1.2. 540,1. 591,1. 1688,1. 1823,1. 1847,1. 2043,1. 2429,2. 3928,5.

  Love of party. 113,3. 299,1. 872,1. 1606,1. 2156,1.

  Love toward animals. 1823,1.

  Luther’s Reformation. 349,1.

  Lyric. 23,5. 28,3. 245,2. 1057–8. 1856. 2049,1. 2172,1. 2361,1. 2533,1. 3046. 3228. 3269,1. 4234,5.

  M

  Magistrate, etc., good, is simply a synonym of disinterested. Observations concerning this. 4247,1.

  Magnanimity. 829,1.

  Malice. Cunning. 2259,1. 3945,1.

  Man, individual, shrinks as the world grows in his eyes. 1175,1. 3171,1.

  Man, the only title which man can dignify himself with. 2493,1. Only way of knowing man, or men. 3466,1. Impossible to know, not only what the human race, but what an individual can become. 4166,4. Man, is better known in small towns, etc., than in capital cities, etc. 1831,2. 2405,1.

  Man, whether he is the most perfect earthly being. 2392,2. 2410,1. 2567,1. 2898,1. 3374,1. 3846,2. 4133,2.

  Man, whether he is the most social of living beings. 3773,1.

  Man, whether he was destined to occupy the whole earth. Philosophical history of the propagation of the human race, etc. The process of civilization was one in origin: likewise difficult inventions and discoveries, etc. etc. 3643,1. 3890,1. 3957,1. 3961,4. 4048,6. 4069,2.

  Man, why he believes himself to be the foremost of beings. 390,1. 822,1. 975,2. 1259,1. 1260,1. 1305,5. 4120,20. 4172,8. See Foreigners, Slavery.

  Manfredi. His Lyric poetry. 28,1.

  Marcus Aurelius. 2295. Why he wrote his book in Greek. 2166,1. 2624. Marcus Aurelius and Frederick: comparison between ancient and modern philosophy on the throne. 4096,3.

  Marriage. 283,1.

  Martyrs. See Spartans.

  Medicine. 1980,1.2. 4136.

  Melancholy. 142,1. 460,1. 931,1. 1690,1. 1860,1. Usual effect of music. 2310,1.[3310,1.] Wherever it does not rule in modern poetry and literature, the cause lies in the weakness of intellect of authors. 2363,2.

  Memories. 1044,2. 1521,2. 1777,2. 1798,4. 1827,2. 1860,1. 1962,1. 1987,1. 2645,2. 2685,2. 3770–1. 3952,1. 4286,6.

  Memory. 1103,1. 1177. 1255,1. 1364,3. 1370,1. 1378,2. 1383,2.3. 1453,1. 1508,1. 1523,1. 1552,3. 1631,1. 1657,1. 1675,2. 1697,1. 1716,1. 1717,2. 1718,1. 1733,2. 1764,2. 1765,1. 1775,2.[1776,2.] 1951,1. 2028,1. 2046,1. 2047,1. 2110,1. 2378,1. 2401,1. 3345,1. 3737,1. 3950,1.2. Art of memory. 2378,1. />
  Men, egoistical, corrupt, base, can only either serve or rule. 523,3.

  Men, great, why they are esteemed such most of the time. 3347,1. To be born great is misfortune today, was fortunate in ancient times. 2583,1. Nowadays extremely scarce, not so in antiquity. 207,1. 598,4.

  Men, great in one profession could have been great in another. 1741,2. 2132,1.

  Men, great in professions of little worth. 496,1.

  Men, sensitive, change character, etc., several times in their lifetime. 4064,1. A man of feeling but not handsome. 718,1. 722,1. 1691,2. The most sensitive man easily becomes the coldest and wickedest. 1648,1. 2032,1. 2107,1. 2208,2. 2473,1. 3058,2. 3837,1. 4105,2. 4149,6.

  Men, whether they are the same in all times and places, as is said. 868,1. See Difference.

  Men of great talent. 538,1. 539,1. 595,2. 1176,1. 1450,1. 1753,1. 2017,2. 2039,3. 2230,1. 2410,1. 3040,1. 3171,1. 3183,1. 3488,2. 4037,6. 4064,1. See Esteem.

  Men of little spirit. 2451,1.

  Metaphors. 1702ff. 1917,2. 2005,1. 2468,1. 2721,2. 3717,1.

  Metastasio. 701. 3949,2.

  Method, loved by children and men with imagination. 211,3. 212,2. 1588,1. 4259,5. By the despairing and resigned. 620. By everyone. 298–99. By the solitary, and all the more the less a person is occupied or distracted. 3410,1. Harmful to the tranquillity of life. 4259,5.

  Mexican Conquest. See Retreat.

  Mind, human. Its supreme power, especially in abstract speculations. 1627,2. 2941,1. 3171,1.

  Misanthropy. Is destroyed by a smile, an act of kindness. 1727,2. There is no choice but to become either misanthropes or egoists. 1913,1.

  Misfortune, serious, etc. 126,2. 366,2.

  Misfortunes. 633,1. 636,1. 653,1. 678,3. 712,1. 717,3. 931,1. 958,1. 960,2. 2159,1. 3539,1. Make man inactive and useless, chilling self-love, etc. 958,1. 2876,1. Extinguish compassion. 2628,2. Make happiness sweeter. 2661,1. The sensitive man accustoms himself to them more quickly. 2208,2.

  Modesty, typical of great men. 612,3. 4285,5.

  Modesty. Shame. 650,1. 1329,1.

  Monads, Leibniz’s. 1635,2.

  Monarchy and Republic. 302,2. 523,3. 543,1. 579,2. 590,1. 671. 683,1. 120,1. 709,1. 902ff. 911,1. 930,2. 1563,1. 1586,1. 3082,1. 3411,1. 3471,1. 3889,1. See Constitutions.