“Even then he had those piercing cat's eyes of his and when he had said something, finished up by saying: "If I'm wrong, put me right." And so I began to understand that you didn't speak for the sake of speaking, to say that you had done this or that, what you had eaten or drunk, but to work out an idea, to find out what makes the world go round.”

— Cesare Pavese

Source: The moon and the bonfire (1950), Chapter XVII, p. 98

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Cesare Pavese 137

Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator 1908–1950

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