Quote

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

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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
Giving
Becoming
Explained
Thing
Dangerous
Named
Name
Island
Names
Islands
Taken
Consists
Also
Phenomenon
Give
Convinced
Care
Danger
Gratifying

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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.
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Perfection belongs to narrated events, not to those we live.
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Everybody is somebody's Jew.
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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.
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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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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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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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The living are more demanding the dead can wait.
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The aims of life are the best defense against death.
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Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it.
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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.
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Perhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories [. . . ] because one isn't always equal to oneself.
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There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.
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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.
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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.
Primo Levi
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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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I am not even alive enough to know how to kill myself
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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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The sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong.
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I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man.
Primo Levi