Cesare Pavese Quotes

"Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue."

"He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity."

"Hate is always a clash between our spirit and someone else's body"

"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.''"

"Contraries are cured by contraries."

"The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped."

"We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten."

"Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference."

"Suffering is by no means a privilege, a sign of nobility, a reminder of God. Suffering is a fierce, bestial thing, commonplace, uncalled for, natural as air. It is intangible; no one can grasp it or fight against it; it dwells in time -- is the same thing as time; if it comes in fits and starts, that is only so as to leave the sufferer more defenseless during the moments that follow, those long moments when one relives the last bout of torture and waits for the next."

"To choose a hardship for ourselves is our only defense against that hardship. This is what is meant by accepting suffering. Those who, by their very nature, can suffer completely, utterly, have an advantage. That is how we can disarm the power of suffering, make it our own creation, our own choice; submit to it. A justification for suicide."

"Will power is only the tensile strength of one's own disposition. One cannot increase it by a single ounce."