I am constantly amazed by man’s inhumanity to man.
PRIMO LEVII am constantly amazed by man’s inhumanity to man.
PRIMO LEVIWe who survived the Camps are not true witnesses.
PRIMO LEVIMy number is 174517; we have been baptized, we will carry the tattoo on our left arm until we die.
PRIMO LEVII’m a libertine, but it’s not my specialty.
PRIMO LEVIMore dangerous are…the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions.
PRIMO LEVIThe sea’s only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong.
PRIMO LEVIIt is the duty of righteous men to make war on all undeserved privilege, but one must not forget that this is a war without end.
PRIMO LEVIRejection of human solidarity, obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and of moral sense to the principle of authority, and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice which masks itself as warring virtue, love of country and faith in an idea.
PRIMO LEVIA scientist’s life, the author says, is indeed conflictual, formed by battles, defeats, and victories: but the adversary is always and only the unknown.
PRIMO LEVIIn fact, the existence of the death squads had a meaning, a message: ‘We, the master race, are your destroyers, but you are no better than we are; if we so wish, and we do so wish, we can destroy not only your bodies, but also your souls, just as we have destroyed ours.
PRIMO LEVIPerhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories [. . . ] because one isn’t always equal to oneself.
PRIMO LEVIA country is considered the more civilised the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak and a powerful one too powerful.
PRIMO LEVINothing can be said: nothing sure, nothing probable, nothing honest. Better to err through omission than through commission: better to refrain from steering the fate of others, since it is already so difficult to navigate one’s own.
PRIMO LEVIThey sensed that what had happened around them and in their presence, and in them, was irrevocable.
PRIMO LEVIWe collected in a group in front of their door, and we experienced within ourselves a grief that was new for us, the ancient grief of the people that has no land, the grief without hope of the exodus which is renewed in every century.
PRIMO LEVIHe could hardly read or write but his heart spoke the language of the good
PRIMO LEVI