Quotes from book
The Wrench

Primo Levi Original title La chiave a stella (Italian, 1978)

The Wrench, published in the U.S. under the title of The Monkey's Wrench, is a novel by Primo Levi that takes the form a collection of interconnected stories exchanged between the two main characters. It is similar in form to his collection of connected memoir stories, The Periodic Table.


Primo Levi photo
Primo Levi photo

“I'm a libertine, but it's not my specialty.”

The Wrench (1978)

Primo Levi photo

“Nothing can be said: nothing sure, nothing probable, nothing honest.”

The Wrench (1978)
Context: Nothing can be said: nothing sure, nothing probable, nothing honest. Better to err through omission than through commission: better to refrain from steering the fate of others, since it is already so difficult to navigate one's own.

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