Source: The Creation of the Universe (1952), p. 139
“Idleness makes hours pass slowly and years swiftly. Activity makes the hours short and the years long.”
This Business of Living (1935-1950)
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Cesare Pavese 137
Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator 1908–1950Related quotes
“Who well lives, long lives; for this age of ours
Should not be numbered by years, daies, and hours.”
Second Week, Fourth Day, Book ii. Compare: " A life spent worthily should be measured by a nobler line,—by deeds, not years", Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Pizarro, Act iv, Scene 1.
La Seconde Semaine (1584)
“Years passed; and he endured the idleness of his intelligence and the inertia of his heart.”
Source: Sentimental Education
Mal te perdonarán a ti las horas;
las horas que limando están los días,
los días que royendo están los años.
"De la brevedad engañosa de la vida", line 12, cited from J. M. Cohen (ed.) The Penguin Book of Spanish Verse (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1962) p. 278. Translation from the same source.