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

More quotes by Primo Levi

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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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Dawn came on us like a betrayer it seemed as though the new sun rose as an ally of our enemies to assist in our destruction.
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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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The aims of life are the best defense against death.
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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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The living are more demanding the dead can wait.
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Perhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories [. . . ] because one isn't always equal to oneself.
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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
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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.
Primo Levi
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Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it.
Primo Levi
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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.
Primo Levi
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I live in my house as I live inside my skin: I know more beautiful, more ample, more sturdy and more picturesque skins: but it would seem to me unnatural to exchange them for mine.
Primo Levi
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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.
Primo Levi
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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.
Primo Levi
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The sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong.
Primo Levi
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Perfection belongs to narrated events, not to those we live.
Primo Levi
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Everybody is somebody's Jew.
Primo Levi
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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
Primo Levi
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I am not even alive enough to know how to kill myself
Primo Levi
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Each of us bears the imprint of a friend met along the way In each the trace of each.
Primo Levi