Leopardi was a great observer of contemporary society, to which he dedicated some important works (such as the Discorso sugli Italiani and the Pensieri) and numerous annotations in the Zibaldone:
In society man goes bad and is unhappy [56, 417, 2684-5] – society is the enemy of nature [112, 1096-8, 1596, 3882-4] – it fills life but leaves you unhappy, [248] – without society there would be no need for religion [370-1] – considerations on government [545-79] – it is contrary to happiness, because it requires unity and inequality [579-82] – in primitive societies, “broad”, love for one’s country, freedom, virtue, and the common good dominated; in modern ones, “narrow”, it is egoism, despotism, and inertia that dominate [872-911, 3928-30] – it cannot exist without hatred for foreigners [892] – the narrower it is the less it can bear those who praise themselves [1932-4] – it tends always to make uniform [2000-1] – he who wants to be esteemed in society today must make his interlocutors discontent [2271-5] – in society nothing is more shameful than to be ashamed [3061] – the more societies are civilised, the more we risk despotism: proof of the fact that society and happiness cannot be reconciled [3082-4] – society rejects he who does not adapt to its rules, and only the “mediocre” are successful and not the people who are “idiots and uncouth” nor those that have an “original, extraordinarily vigorous, constant, and firm character” [3183-91] – the first poets and sages worked in function of society [3431-2] – “In a small town ... there being no substance to society ... each does his own thing ... And likewise in a nation, where there is but little society, such as in Italia” [3546-7] – “They want man to be by nature more sociable than all other living beings. I say he is less so than all the others, because ... he has a greater love of himself, and therefore ... greater hatred towards others” [3773-3810] – one achieves success in society only when one does not desire it anymore [4420-1] – “The most unexpected thing that can happen to who starts out in social life ... is to find the world as it was described to him, and as he knows it already and believes it to be in theory” [4525-6].
Society
