Were I to choose an auspicious image for the new millennium, I would choose [a thoughtful lightness]: the sudden agile leap of the poet-philosopher who raises himself above the weight of the world, showing that with all his gravity he has the secret of lightness, and that what many consider to be the vitality of the times – noisy, agressive revving and roaring – belongs to the realm of death, like a cemetery for rusty cars.

Italo Calvino, On Lightness, Six Essays for the Millennium