Cesare Pavese citations

„Attendre est encore une occupation. C'est ne rien attendre qui est terrible.“

—  Cesare Pavese

„Tu seras aimé le jour où tu pourras montrer tes faiblesses sans que l'autre s'en serve pour affirmer sa force.“

—  Cesare Pavese

Variante: Tu seras aimé le jour où tu pourras montrer tes faiblesses sans que l'autre s'en serve pour augmenter sa force.

„Il arrive qu'une femme rencontre une épave et qu'elle décide d'en faire un homme sain. Elle y réussit parfois. Il arrive qu'une femme rencontre un homme sain et décide d'en faire une épave. Elle y réussit toujours.“

—  Cesare Pavese

„L’art est la preuve que la vie ne suffit pas.“

—  Cesare Pavese

„Il y a une chose plus triste que d'avoir raté ses idéaux, c'est de les avoir réalisés.“

—  Cesare Pavese

Le Métier de vivre

„The only joy in the world is to begin.“

—  Cesare Pavese

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

—  Cesare Pavese

La difficoltà di commettere suicidio sta in questo: è un atto di ambizione che si può commettere solo quando si sia superata ogni ambizione.
This Business of Living (1935-1950)

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

—  Cesare Pavese

This Business of Living (1935-1950)
Variante: The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.
Source: The Burning Brand: Diaries, 1935-1950

„What world lies beyond that stormy sea I do not know, but every ocean has a distant shore, and I shall reach it.“

—  Cesare Pavese

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

„From someone who doesn't want to share your destiny, you should neither accept a cigarette“

—  Cesare Pavese

Source: The Burning Brand: Diaries, 1935-1950

„We do not remember days, we remember moments.“

—  Cesare Pavese

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

„Great lovers will always be unhappy, because, for them, love is of supreme importance. Consequently they demand of their beloved the same intensity of thought as they have for her, otherwise they feel betrayed.“

—  Cesare Pavese

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

„Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in this world.“

—  Cesare Pavese

Source: Il mestiere di vivere: Diario 1935-1950

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

—  Cesare Pavese

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

„There comes a day when, for someone who has persecuted us, we feel only indifference, a weariness at his stupidity. Then we forgive him.“

—  Cesare Pavese

This Business of Living (1935-1950)
Source: Il mestiere di vivere: Diario 1935-1950

„The words that strike us are those that awake an echo in a zone we have already made our own—the place where we live—and the vibration enables us to find fresh starting points within ourselves.“

—  Cesare Pavese

This Business of Living (1935-1950)
Source: Il mestiere di vivere: Diario 1935-1950
Contexte: When we read, we are not looking for new ideas, but to see our own thoughts given the seal of confirmation on the printed page. The words that strike us are those that awake an echo in a zone we have already made our own—the place where we live—and the vibration enables us to find fresh starting points within ourselves.

„One does not kill oneself for love of a woman, but because love—any love—reveals us in our nakedness, our misery, our vulnerability, our nothingness.“

—  Cesare Pavese

„Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi. (Death will come and it will have your eyes.)“

—  Cesare Pavese

„What's got into your head? That I'm returning to my origins? The important things I have in my blood and nobody is going to take them away. I'm here to drink a bottle of my wine and sing a little–with anybody.“

—  Cesare Pavese

Source: The Beach (1941), Chapter 2, p. 9