Quote

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

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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
Difficult
Commission
Others
Navigate
Better
Refrain
Nothing
Fate
Already
Honest
Omission
Since
Steering
Sure
Probable

More quotes by Primo Levi

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The aims of life are the best defense against death.
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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.
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The work of bestial degradation, begun by the victorious Germans, had been carried to its conclusion by the Germans in defeat.
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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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A man who would mutilate himself is well damned, isn't he?
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Perhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories [. . . ] because one isn't always equal to oneself.
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The sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong.
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Today I think that if for no other reason than that an Auschwitz existed, no one in our age should speak of Providence.
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Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it.
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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.
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Each of us bears the imprint of a friend met along the way In each the trace of each.
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I am not even alive enough to know how to kill myself
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.
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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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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
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Perfection belongs to narrated events, not to those we live.
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