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Carlo Dossi (1849 – 1910)

Carlo Dossi (his real name was Carlo Alberto Pisani) was born in 1849 in the province of Pavia of rich landowning stock.
In 1861 he moved to Milan where he befriended a few members of the Bohemian set.
“L’Altrieri” (1868) and “Vita di Alberto Pisani” figure among his earlier works.
In 1872 he dedicated himself to a career in the diplomatic service and worked for five years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, becoming the personal secretary of Francesco Crispi.  During this period he published “La desinenza in A” and “Gocce d’inchiostro”.
On Crispi’s death he abandoned politics and spent the latter years of his life in a villa on Lake Come where he died in 1910.
He greatly revolutionised the language and its style and may be considered a precursor of the later avant-garde writers.


all ideas are already in the brain, just as all statues are in the marble
all tramps and beggars are equal under the law
book-lovers with shelves full of books and who do not even turn a page can be compared to eunuchs in a harem
dictionaries need to be corrected continually, like maps
facts are always popping up to confuse the theories
I don\'t ever write my name on books that I buy; I only do so after having read them as only then can I say they\'re mine
one achieves self-control only by dint of lack of restraint. The brothel defends the house
the best way to be more free is to grant more freedom to others
the distance between one molecule and another is the distance between the stars
the mad open up roads that later are taken by the sane
why do we generally avoid solitude? Because few of us are good company to ourselves