When I was a little boy, I was reading Dante and I was saying to myself 'Bravo, Dante, Bravo.' It's so beautiful, the music, the sound, the meaning. I felt like calling him by phone, like a friend.
Roberto BenigniRead
Only comedians can talk about death, life, God and Virgin Mary. If I was a tragic actor, I couldn't allow myself. But with this accent I can do it. I can talk with death in person because I am a clown. Yes. And I am proud to be a clown - very much.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humor allows us to confront serious topics like death and life in a lighter way.
Roberto Benigni's quote expresses the unique power of comedy to address profound issues such as death, life, and spirituality. As a clown and comedian, he feels liberated to discuss these heavy subjects without the constraints that a tragic actor might feel, highlighting the importance of humor in navigating life's most challenging themes.
Themes
ComedyDeathLifeClownHumorFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
During a stand-up comedy show, a comedian references this quote to emphasize how humor can ease the conversation about life's serious topics.
More from Roberto Benigni
All quotes →In Italy, the country where fascism was born, we have a particular relation with the Holocaust, but as a turning point in history it belongs to everybody in the world. It is a part of humanity.
Roberto BenigniRead
I'm a storyteller: the crux of the matter is to reach beauty, poetry; it doesn't matter if that is comedy or tragedy. They're the same if you reach the beauty.
Roberto BenigniRead
When we talk to somebody and we want to be nice or polite or show our more beautiful side, we try to use the best words that we know. This is what poets are doing. They are cleaning the words, they are inventing the sentiments, they are giving us a way to communicate.
Roberto BenigniRead
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