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Quotes from This Business of Living — Cesare Pavese

1908–1950 Italy

← All quotes by Cesare Pavese

82 quotes

The whole problem of life, then, is this: how to break out of one's own loneliness, how to communicate with others.

This Business of Living (1935)

In the mental disturbance and effort of writing, what sustains you is the certainty that on every page there is something left unsaid.

This Business of Living (1935)

A dream is a creation of the intelligence, the creator being present but not knowing how it will end.

This Business of Living (1935)

When a woman marries she belongs to another man; and when she belongs to another man there is nothing more you can say to her.

This Business of Living (1935)

Remember, writing poetry is like making love: one will never know whether one's own pleasure is shared.

This Business of Living (1935)

If it were possible to have a life absolutely free from every feeling of sin, what a terrifying vacuum it would be!

This Business of Living (1935)

We do not free ourselves from something by avoiding it, but only by living though it.

This Business of Living (1935)

Those philosophers who believe in the absolute logic of truth have never had to discuss it on close terms with a woman.

This Business of Living (1935)

Here's the difficulty about suicide: it is an act of ambition that can be committed only when one has passed beyond ambition.

This Business of Living (1935)

How can you have confidence in a woman who will not risk entrusting her whole life to you, day and night?

This Business of Living (1935)

It is stupid to grieve for the loss of a girl friend: you might never have met her, so you can do without her.

This Business of Living (1935)

No woman marries for money: they are all clever enough, before marrying a millionaire, to fall in love with him.

This Business of Living (1935)

You cannot insult a man more atrociously than by refusing to believe he is suffering.

This Business of Living (1935)

A man succeeds in completing a work only when his qualities transcend that work.

This Business of Living (1935)

But the real, tremendous truth is this: suffering serves no purpose whatever.

This Business of Living (1935)

Misfortunes cannot suffice to make a fool into an intelligent man.

This Business of Living (1935)

Death is repose, but the thought of death disturbs all repose.

This Business of Living (1935)

Life without smoking is like the smoke without the roast.

This Business of Living (1935)

No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide.

This Business of Living (1935)

To avenge a wrong done to you, is to rob yourself of the comfort of crying out against the injustice of it.

This Business of Living (1935)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Cesare Pavese (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.