Everybody is somebody’s Jew.
PRIMO LEVIWe have collectively witnessed a fundamental unexpected event, fundamental precisely because unexpected, not foreseen by anyone.
More Primo Levi Quotes
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For he who loses all often easily loses himself.
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I too entered the Lager as a nonbeliever, and as a nonbeliever I was liberated and have lived to this day.
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For people of science, he is a hero. Denying man a privileged place in creation, .. he reaffirms with his own intellectual courage the dignity of man.
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Conquering matter is to understand it, and understanding matter is necessary to understanding the universe and ourselves: and that therefore Mendeleev’s Periodic Table, which just during those weeks we were learning to unravel, was poetry.
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To destroy a man is difficult, almost as difficult as to create one: it has not been easy, nor quick, but you Germans have succeeded. Here we are, docile under your gaze; from our side you have nothing more to fear; no acts of violence, no words of defiance, not even a look of judgment.
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Anyone who has obeyed nature by transmitting a piece of gossip experiences the explosive relief that accompanies the satisfying of a primary need.
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If it is true that there is no greater sorrow than to remember a happy time in a state of misery, it is just as true that calling up a moment of anguish in a tranquil mood, seated quietly at one’s desk, is a source of profound satisfaction.
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It is neither easy nor agreeable to dredge this abyss of viciousness, and yet I think it must be done, because what could be perpetrated yesterday could be attempted again tomorrow, could overwhelm us and our children.
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It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.
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If you and your child were going to be killed tomorrow, would you not give him to eat today?
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The aims of life are the best defense against death.
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The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.
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At the origin of physics lay the strenuous clarity of the West-Archimedes and Euclid.
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The butterfly’s attractiveness derives not only from colors and symmetry: deeper motives contribute to it.
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The sea’s only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong.
PRIMO LEVI






