Quote

It had to happen to you, to concentrate your whole life on one point, and then discover that you can do anything except live at that point.

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
Point
Happens
Anything
Live
Whole
Concentrate
Life
Discover
Except
Happen

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The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.
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Woman gives herself as a prize to the weak and as a prop to the strong and no man ever has what he should.
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Human imagination is immensely poorer than reality.
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The search for a new personality is futile what is fruitful is the interest the old personality can take in new activities.
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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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Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi. (Death will come and it will have your eyes.)
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How can you have confidence in a woman who will not risk entrusting her whole life to you, day and night?
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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.
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The cadence of suffering has begun. Every evening at dusk, my heart constricts until night has come.
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We can all do good deeds, but very few of us can think good thoughts.
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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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Waiting is still an occupation. It is having nothing to wait for that is terrible.
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To know the world, one must construct it
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The world, the future, is now within you as your past, as experience, skill in technique, and the rich, everlasting mystery is found to be childish you that, at the time, you made no effort to possess.
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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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Don't mix wine and women.
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The real affliction of old age is remorse.
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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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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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People who don't know any better will always be in the dark because the power lies in the hands of men who take good care that ordinary folk don't understand, in the hands, that is, of the government, of the clerical party, of the capitalists.
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