Quote

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.

Primo Levi

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Primo Levi
Age: 67 †
Born: 1919
Born: July 31
Died: 1987
Died: April 11
Author
Autobiographer
Chemist
Novelist
Philosopher
Poet
Politician
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Turin
Italy
Satisfaction
Happy
Misery
Seated
Moment
Tranquil
Moments
Profound
Desk
True
Calling
Desks
Remember
Sorrow
Anguish
States
Source
Quietly
Time
Greater
Mood
State

More quotes by Primo Levi

Image
Imagine now a man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same time of his house, his habits, his clothes, in short, of everything he possesses: he will be a hollow man, reduced to suffering and needs, forgetful of dignity and restraint, for he who loses all often loses himself.
Primo Levi
Image
The sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong.
Primo Levi
Image
I am not even alive enough to know how to kill myself
Primo Levi
Image
The living are more demanding the dead can wait.
Primo Levi
Image
We 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 Levi
Image
Each of us bears the imprint of a friend met along the way In each the trace of each.
Primo Levi
Image
He could hardly read or write but his heart spoke the language of the good
Primo Levi
Image
Perhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories [. . . ] because one isn't always equal to oneself.
Primo Levi
Image
The work of bestial degradation, begun by the victorious Germans, had been carried to its conclusion by the Germans in defeat.
Primo Levi
Image
The bond between a man and his profession is similar to that which ties him to his country it is just as complex, often ambivalent, and in general it is understood completely only when it is broken: by exile or emigration in the case of one's country, by retirement in the case of a trade or profession.
Primo Levi
Image
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.
Primo Levi
Image
I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man.
Primo Levi
Image
Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it.
Primo Levi
Image
A man who would mutilate himself is well damned, isn't he?
Primo Levi
Image
Nothing 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 Levi
Image
It 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 Levi
Image
Monsters exist, but they are too few in numbers to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are…the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions.
Primo Levi
Image
We will not return No one must leave here and so carry to the world, together with the sign impressed on his skin, the evil tidings of what man's presumption made of man in Auschwitz
Primo Levi
Image
It is this refrain that we hear repeated by everyone: you are not at home, this is not a sanatorium, the only exit is by way of the Chimney. (What did it mean? Soon we were all to learn what it meant.)
Primo Levi
Image
To give a name to a thing is as gratifying as giving a name to an island, but it is also dangerous: the danger consists in one's becoming convinced that all is taken care of and that once named, the phenomenon has also been explained.
Primo Levi