Cesare Pavese

"The worst thing one can do with words is surrender to them."

"Modern times have made solitude much harder, but also much more necessary."

"A man's talent is not something he possesses; it is something that possesses him."

"We are nostalgic for a society that hasn't even existed yet."

"The cruelty of memory is that it chooses what to keep and what to forget."

"To love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another."

"Every man likes to think that he has done his duty."

"The only measure of true power is how much you can give away."

"Patient persistence pierc through pride and pretense."

"A child should never be told that money matters more than life."

"The real failure is to stop trying, not to fail while trying."

"Autumn in New England is a fire without a purpose."

"What matters is not the object of love, but the emotion itself."

"You will die alone, and the thought will bring you peace."

"The more you know, the more you realize you know nothing."

"Beauty is the only incontestable fact in an ambiguous world."

"A man who doesn't read is no better than a man who can't."

"Every epoch has its own poetry; what matters is to perceive it."

"The worst betrayal is that of turning away."

"One day I shall be something. But I must trust in that something and wait for it."

"The value of a man cannot be measured by his bank account."

"Health is not a state; it is the ability to face our own destruction."

"The moon is always in some man's eyes."

"To write is to confess ignorance and to learn."

"Patience is the virtue of the desperate."

"We teach what we need to learn most."

"The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. That is the real problem."

"A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain without protesting."

"The art of finding truth is in discerning what is not the truth."

"Every man has the right to live his own life, but not at the expense of everyone else."