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 PAVESEGreat 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.
More Cesare Pavese Quotes
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The only joy in the world is to begin.
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Don’t mix wine and women.
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Life is pain and the enjoyment of love is an anesthetic.
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It is stupid to grieve for the loss of a girl friend: you might never have met her, so you can do without her.
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Those philosophers who believe in the absolute logic of truth have never had to discuss it on close terms with a woman.
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There comes a day when, for someone who has persecuted us, we feel only indifference, a weariness at his stupidity. Then we forgive him.
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It is not that things happen to each of us according to his fate, but that he interprets what has happened, if he has power to do so, according to his sense of his own destiny.
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It’s pointless to cry. One is born and dies alone.
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The only way to escape the abyss is to look at it, gauge it, sound it out and descend into it.
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Will power is only the tensile strength of one’s own disposition. One cannot increase it by a single ounce.
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I thought of how many places there are in the world that belong in this way to someone, who has it in his blood beyond anyone else’s understanding.
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Why does a man who is truly in love insist that this relationship must continue and be “lifelong”? Because life is pain and the enjoyment of love is an anesthetic. Who would want to wake up halfway through an operation?
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Nowadays, suicide is just a way of disappearing. It is carried out timidly, quietly, and falls flat. It is no longer an action, only a submission.
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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.
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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.
CESARE PAVESE