The only way to escape the abyss is to look at it, gauge it, sound it out and descend into it. Cesare Pavese More Quotes by Cesare Pavese More Quotes From Cesare Pavese The only joy in the world is to begin. Cesare Pavese being-happy happiness inspirational Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it. Cesare Pavese dream home travel We do not free ourselves from something by avoiding it, but only by living though it. Cesare Pavese avoiding Lessons are not given, they are taken. Cesare Pavese genocide lessons taken The only joy in the world is to begin. It is good to be alive because living is beginning, always, every moment. Cesare Pavese alive joy world We never remember days, only moments. Cesare Pavese moments time remember The art of living is the art of knowing how to believe lies. The fearful thing about it is that, not knowing what truth may be, we can still recognize lies. Cesare Pavese believe lying art Life is pain and the enjoyment of love is an anesthetic. Cesare Pavese love friendship life Great lovers will always be unhappy, because, for them, love is of supreme importance. Consequently they demand of their beloved the same intensity of thought as they have for her, otherwise they feel betrayed. Cesare Pavese betrayed unhappy love-is Those philosophers who believe in the absolute logic of truth have never had to discuss it on close terms with a woman. Cesare Pavese philosopher women believe The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten. Cesare Pavese success happiness life We must never say, even in fun, that we are disheartened, because someone might take us at our word. Cesare Pavese our-words fun might It's pointless to cry. One is born and dies alone. Cesare Pavese cry born dies Life without smoking is like the smoke without the roast. Cesare Pavese smoke smoking Waiting is still an occupation. It is having nothing to wait for that is terrible. Cesare Pavese occupation waiting patience Human imagination is immensely poorer than reality. Cesare Pavese humans imagination reality Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi. (Death will come and it will have your eyes.) Cesare Pavese eye Love is the cheapest of religions. Cesare Pavese love-is love life If it is true that one gets used to suffering, how is it that as the years go one always suffers more? No, they are not mad, those people who amuse themselves, enjoy life, travel, make love, fight they are not mad. We should like to do the same ourselves. Cesare Pavese fighting people years Why does a man who is truly in love insist that this relationship must continue and be "lifelong"? Because life is pain and the enjoyment of love is an anesthetic. Who would want to wake up halfway through an operation? Cesare Pavese pain love men