Happiness Is To Desire What You Have

Ennio Flaiano uses humour and language to catch us off guard, and to poke fun at our pretensiousness.


He's the master of the backhanded compliment. Few people are so versatile at disguising an insult as praise, as the two following phrases show:


"He is afflicted by a parity complex, he doesn’t feel inferior to anyone." Ennio Flaiano

"Italians always rush to the aid of the victor." Ennio Flaiano

But he doesn't limit himself to insulting others, since he's also an expert in self-deprecation:
"My motto is: few ideas, but confused." Ennio Flaiano (apparently stolen from his friend Mino Maccari)

And every now and again, he makes us smile by forging such gems as this eloquent chiasmus:
"Success is to have what you desire. Happiness is to desire what you have." Ennio Flaiano




Alberico Collina

Note: the quotations above are my translations of the Italian original. I hope I did them justice :-)