I love Aphorisms, Poets, and Italy - I found a mate.

Antonio Porchia was born in the town of Conflenti, which belongs to the Province of Calabria in Italy, on the thirteenth day of November of the year 1885. His father, Francisco Porchia, was married to Rosa Vescio, with whom he had seven children, three daughters and four sons; Antonio was the eldest. When his father died in 1900, Porchia was only 15 years old. Being the eldest of his siblings, he took the responsibility of looking after them. His mother decided to emigrate to Argentina, and Porchia felt a sense of duty and the commitment to find a job in order to help support his family.

He arrived in Argentina in 1902 at the age of 17, and started to work in the Port of Buenos Aires, where he mended and wove baskets. Around the year 1918, together with his brother, he bought a small printing press in the neighborhood of San Telmo, where he did a little of everything: he was a typographer apprentice, he worked in the guillotine, cutting and punching cards. The printing business improved around the year 1925, when it was moved to a bigger place. Porchia worked there until approximately 1935.

In 1936 he moved to a new house where he lodged his nephews and nieces, who had become motherless. They considered him as a father. Porchia was of an unlimited kindness, he was never heard speak ill of anybody and he hosted many friends in his house, some of whom were painters, others were writers. Porchia was fond of art, he also had a great love for nature, he liked to keep his garden tidy and he had a weakness for roses.

The first published “Voices” (“Voces”) appeared in a small left-wing newspaper called “La Fragua” (“The Forge”). The first collection of “Voices” appeared in Buenos Aires in 1943 in an edition that Porchia paid for by himself and that carried the stamp of Impulse Association.

His first and only published book increased every new edition with some new “Voices”.The work of Porchia is totally composed of brief aphorisms, moral or philosophical maxims, many of which are of a high poetic hierarchy.

In 1947 the French reviewer Roger Callois published some Voices in the French magazine “La Licorne”. In 1949 he translated and published the book “Voix” G L M Editions-Paris in its full version. This edition obtained a warm welcome and was an immediate success; famous people as André Breton and Henry Miller considered Porchia as one of the greatest poets of the present time. Callois suspected that Porchia was influenced by Buddist writings or maybe by Kafka; but when asked about this, Porchia answered that never in his life had he heard anything of them. He only said that his “Voices” flowed spontaneously and that they represented different moments and experiences of his life, he simply wrote them down.

Porchia died on Saturday, November 9th, 1968, when he was about to turn 83 years old

Here are some of Porchia's "Voices" -

"I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received."

"He who holds me by the thread is not strong; the thread is strong."

"In its last moment, the whole of my life will last only a moment."

"You will find the distance that seperates you from them, by joining them."

"They will say you are on the wrong road, if it is your own."

"When the superficial wearies me, it wearies me so much that I need an abyss in order to rest."

"You think you are killing me. I think you are committing suicide."