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This Business of Living: Diaries 1935-1950

Book by Cesare Pavese · 6 quotes · Art, Ifs, Suffering

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AllArtIfsSufferingAirAwakeBitesBloodCommonplaceConfirmationConsumedDefenselessDesireDesire For KnowledgeDestinyDoeEchoesFacesFactsFangsFate

This Business of Living: Diaries 1935-1950 Quotes

“In fact a man in love or one consumed with hatred creates symbols for himself, as a superstitious man does, from a passion of conferring uniqueness on things or persons. A man who knows nothing of symbols is one of Dante's sluggards. This is why art mirrors itself in primitive rites or strong passions, seeking for symbols, revolving round the primitive taste for savagery, for what is irrational (blood and sex).”

KnowsMenPersonsDoeArtFactsPassionStrongSexBloodTasteHatredMirrorsRoundsSeekingSymbolsPrimitiveUniquenessIrrationalConsumedSuperstitiousRiteSavageryRevolvingStrong Passion
Book:This Business of Living: Diaries 1935-1950
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“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”

MadeIdeasGivenPagesStartingStrikesAwakeZoneNew IdeasEchoesVibrationsPrintedSealsStarting PointConfirmation
Book:This Business of Living: Diaries 1935-1950
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“Suffering is by no means a privilege, a sign of nobility, a reminder of God. Suffering is a fierce, bestial thing, commonplace, uncalled for, natural as air. It is intangible; no one can grasp it or fight against it; it dwells in time - is the same thing as time; if it comes in fits and starts, that is only so as to leave the sufferer more defenseless during the moments that follow, those long moments when one relives the last bout of torture and waits for the next.”

IfsMeanLongMomentsLastsSufferingFightingNextWaitingNaturalAirFitPrivilegeTortureFierceNobilityRemindersCommonplaceIntangibleSufferersDefenseless
Book:This Business of Living: Diaries 1935-1950
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“There is an art in taking the whiplash of suffering full in the face, an art you must learn. Let each single attack exhaust itself; pain always makes single attacks, so that its bite may be more intense, more concentrated. And you, while its fangs are implanted and injecting their venom at one spot, do not forget to offer it another place where it can bite you, and so relieve the pain of the first.”

FirstsMayArtPainFacesSufferingForgetOffersIntenseSpotsBitesFangsVenomWhiplash
Book:This Business of Living: Diaries 1935-1950
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