Cesare Pavese
Cesare Pavese
Cesare Pavesewas an Italian poet, novelist, literary critic and translator. He is widely considered among the major authors of the 20th century in his home country...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth9 September 1908
CountryItaly
Cesare Pavese quotes about
life alive misery
There is only one pleasure-that of being alive. All the rest is misery.
life young
You've got to understand life, understand it when you're young.
forgiveness stupidity forgiving
There comes a day when, for someone who has persecuted us, we feel only indifference, a weariness at his stupidity. Then we forgive him.
art pain suffering
There is an art in taking the whiplash of suffering full in the face, an art you must learn. Let each single attack exhaust itself; pain always makes single attacks, so that its bite may be more intense, more concentrated. And you, while its fangs are implanted and injecting their venom at one spot, do not forget to offer it another place where it can bite you, and so relieve the pain of the first.
reflection maturity long
Childhood is not only the childhood we really had but also the impressions we formed of it in our adolescence and maturity. That is why childhood seems so long. Probably every period of life is multiplied by our reflections upon the next.
perfect indifference behavior
Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference. Perhaps this is why we always love madly someone who treats us with indifference.
destiny way mess
Don't you know that what happens to you once always happens again? You always react in the same way to the same thing. It's no accident when you make a mess. Then you do it again. It's called destiny.
destiny hard-times captains
I am the captain of my destiny, I do not abandon the ship in hard times, But, I do have sense enough not to go down with the ship.
time men brutal
The slowness of time, for a man who knows nothing will happen, is brutal.
writing poetry making-love
Remember, writing poetry is like making love: one will never know whether one's own pleasure is shared.
love inspirational life
We do not remember days, we remember moments.
acceptance personality interest
The search for a new personality is futile; what is fruitful is the interest the old personality can take in new activities.
suicide choices suffering
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.
strong men giving
Woman gives herself as a prize to the weak and as a prop to the strong and no man ever has what he should.