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A consoling thought: what matters is not what we do, but the spirit in which we do it. Others suffer too; so much so that there is nothing in the world but suffering; the problem is simply to keep a clear conscience.

— Cesare Pavese This Business of Living (1935)

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More quotes by Cesare Pavese

He told me that it isn't what you do but how you do it that shows whether you are clever or not.

The Moon and the Bonfire (1950)

You've got to understand life, understand it when you're young.

The Beach (1941)

The real affliction of old age is remorse.

The Moon and the Bonfire (1950)

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)

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Affectation hides three times as many virtues as charity does sins.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Cesare Pavese (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.