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We must never say, even in fun, that we are disheartened, because someone might take us at our word.

Cesare Pavese

We commit two wrongs when we fail to right a wrong.
CESARE PAVESE

Commitment Failure Wrong
When writing poetry, it is not that produces a bright idea, but the bright idea that kindles the fire of.
CESARE PAVESE

Bright Fire Ideas Poetry Production Writing
Living is like working out a long addition sum, and if you make a mistake in the first two totals you will never find the right answer. It means involving oneself in a complicated chain of circumstances.
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Addition Complication Live Mistake Right Work
Here’s the difficulty about suicide: it is an act of ambition that can be committed only when one has passed beyond ambition.
CESARE PAVESE

Act Ambition Beyond Difficult Pass Suicide
Idleness makes hours pass slowly and years swiftly. Activity makes the hours short and the years long.
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Activity Time
In general, the man who is readily disposed to sacrifice himself is one who does not know how else to give meaning to his life. The profession of enthusiasm is the most sickening of all insincerities.
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Insecurity Man Ready Sacrifice Sick Yourself
To know the world, one must construct it.
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Construction World
A consoling thought: what matters is not what we do, but the spirit in which we do it. Others suffer too; so much so that there is nothing in the world but suffering; the problem is simply to keep a clear conscience.
CESARE PAVESE

Clear Conscience Spirit Suffering Thinking World
Hate is always a clash between our spirit and someone else’s body.
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Body Hate Spirit
Love is desire for knowledge.
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Desire Knowledge Love One Liner
The only joy in the world is to begin. It is good to be alive because living is beginning, always, every moment.
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Alive Beginning Goodness Job Moments World
Love has the faculty of making two lovers seem naked, not in each other’s sight, but in their own.
CESARE PAVESE

Love Lover Naked Sight
What world lies beyond that stormy sea I do not know, but every ocean has a distant shore, and I shall reach it.
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Beyond Lying Ocean Reach World
Perfect behaviour is born of complete indifference.
CESARE PAVESE

Born Complete Difference Perfection
The only way to escape the abyss is to look at it, gauge it, sound it out and descend into it.
CESARE PAVESE

Descend Escape Sound
Great lovers will always be unhappy, because, for them, love is of supreme importance. Consequently they demand of their beloved the same intensity of thought as they have for her, otherwise they feel betrayed.
CESARE PAVESE

Greatness Happiness Important Intensity Love Lover

We must never say, even in fun, that we are disheartened, because someone might take us at our word.

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We must never say, even in fun, that we are disheartened, because someone might take us at our word.

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Popular Authors

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