Quotessence
Home / Books / If This Is a Man / The Truce

If This Is a Man / The Truce

Book by Primo Levi · 2 quotes · Primo Levi, Auschwitz, Death

Filter quotes by topic

AllPrimo LeviAuschwitzDeathHolocaust LiteraturePowerThe HolocaustThe TruceWarWwiiBricklayerCautionaryCompassionCorruptionCrimeDefianceDespairDestructionDieDignityExistentialism

If This Is a Man / The Truce Quotes

“He was a bricklayer; for fifty years, in Italy, America, France, then again in Italy, and finally in Germany, he had laid bricks, and every brick had been cemented with curses. He cursed continuously, but not mechanically; he cursed with method and care, acrimoniously, pausing to find the right word, frequently correcting himself and losing his temper when unable to find the word he wanted; then he cursed the curse that would not come.”

AuschwitzPrimo LeviReawakeningBricklayer
Book:If This Is a Man / The Truce
Create image

“They are the typical product of the structure of the German Lager: if one offers a position of privilege to a few individuals in a state of slavery, exacting in exchange the betrayal of a natural solidarity with their comrades, there will certainly be someone who will accept. He will be withdrawn from the common law and will become untouchable; the more power that he is given, the more he will be consequently hateful and hated. When he is given the command of a group of unfortunates, with the right of life or death over them, he will be cruel and tyrannical, because he will understand that if he is not sufficiently so, someone else, judged more suitable, will take over his post. Moreover, his capacity for hatred, unfulfilled in the direction of the oppressors, will double back, beyond all reason, on the oppressed; and he will only be satisfied when he has unloaded onto his underlings the injury received from above.”

PoliticsPowerCorruptionWwiiAuschwitzPrimo LeviThe HolocaustThe TruceIf This Is A Man
Book:If This Is a Man / The Truce
Create image