An enemy who sees the error of his ways ceases to be an enemy. Primo Levi More Quotes by Primo Levi More Quotes From Primo Levi Perhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories [. . . ] because one isn't always equal to oneself. Primo Levi equal oneself stories This cell belongs to a brain, and it is my brain, the brain of me who is writing; and the cell in question, and within it the atom in question, is in charge of my writing, in a gigantic minuscule game which nobody has yet described. It is that which at this instant, issuing out of a labyrinthine tangle of yeses and nos, makes my hand run along a certain path on the paper, mark it with these volutes that are signs: a double snap, up and down, between two levels of energy, guides this hand of mine to impress on the paper this dot, here, this one. Primo Levi cells writing running He was a physicist, more precisely an astrophysicist, diligent and eager but without illusions: the Truth lay beyond, inaccessible to our telescopes, accessible to the initiates. This was a long road which he was traveling with effort, wonderment, and profound joy. Physics was prose: elegant gymnastics for the mind, mirror of Creation, the key to man's dominion over the planet; but what is the stature of Creation, of man and the planet? His road was long and he had barely started up it, but I was his disciple: did I want to follow him? Primo Levi creation-of-man gymnastics men But many, many stories were told; from what could be gathered, all fifty of the mine's inhabitants had reacted on each other, two by two, as in combinatorial analysis, that is to say, everyone with all the others, and especially every man with all the women, old maids or married, and every woman with all the men. All I had to do was to select two names at random, better if different sex, and ask a third person, "What happened with those two?" and lo and behold, a splendid story was unfolded for me, since everyone knew the story of everyone else. Primo Levi men two sex Is anything sadder than a trainThat leaves when it's supposed to,That has only one voice,Only one route?There's nothing sadder.Except perhaps a cart horse,Shut between two shaftsAnd unable even to look sideways. Primo Levi horse voice two The work of bestial degradation, begun by the victorious Germans, had been carried to its conclusion by the Germans in defeat. Primo Levi conclusion degradation defeat For he who loses all often easily loses himself. Primo Levi loses Today I think that if for no other reason than that an Auschwitz existed, no one in our age should speak of Providence. Primo Levi age today thinking I'm a libertine, but it's not my specialty. Primo Levi libertine specialty A country is considered the more civilized the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak or a powerful one too powerful. Primo Levi