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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

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Cesare Pavese
Age: 41 †
Born: 1908
Born: September 9
Died: 1950
Died: August 27
Biographer
Journalist
Linguist
Literary Critic
Literary Editor
Poet
Screenwriter
Translator
Writer
Give
Readily
Giving
Enthusiasm
Men
Profession
Life
Sacrifice
General
Meaning
Sickening
Else
Insincerity
Doe
Disposed

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Literature is a defense against the attacks of life. It says to life: You can't deceive me. I know your habits, foresee and enjoy watching all your reactions, and steal your secret by involving you in cunning obstructions that halt your normal flow.
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It is not the actual enjoyment of pleasure that we desire. What we want is to test the futility of that pleasure, so as to be no longer obsessed by it.
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Suicides are timid murderers. Masochism instead of Sadism.
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Life without smoking is like the smoke without the roast.
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A man succeeds in completing a work only when his qualities transcend that work.
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Anchorites used to ill-treat themselves in the way they did, so that the common people would not begrudge them the beatitude they would enjoy in heaven.
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Don't you know that what happens to you once always happens again? You always react in the same way to the same thing. It's no accident when you make a mess. Then you do it again. It's called destiny.
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We can all do good deeds, but very few of us can think good thoughts.
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In the mental disturbance and effort of writing, what sustains you is the certainty that on every page there is something left unsaid.
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A decision, an action, are infallible omens of what we shall do another time, not for any vague, mystic, astrological reason but because they result from an automatic reaction that will repeat itself.
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One does not kill oneself for love of a woman, but because love - any love - reveals us in our nakedness, our misery, our vulnerability, our nothingness.
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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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We obtain things when we no longer want them.
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Many men on the point of an edifying death would be furious if they were suddenly restored to health.
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One must look for one thing only, to find many.
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You need a village, if only for the pleasure of leaving it. A village means that you are not alone, knowing that in the people, the trees, the earth, there is something that belongs to you, waiting for you when you are not there.
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No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide.
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Certainly, to have a woman who waits at home for you, who will sleep with you, gives a warm feeling like having something you must say it makes you glow, keeps you company, helps you to live.
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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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Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in this world.
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