"I read somewhere — and the person who wrote this was not a mountaineer but a sailor — that the sea’s only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don’t know much about the sea, but I do know that that’s the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Bear Meat" in The New Yorker (8 January 2007)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Primo_Levi
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Primo Levi
1919 – 1987
italienischer Chemiker, Autor und Antifaschist
48 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Primo Levi →
Related Quotes
"It is not at all an idle matter trying to define what a human being is."
"It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen…"
"It is the duty of righteous men to make war on all undeserved privilege, but one must not forget that this is a war w…"
"The aims of life are the best defense against death."
"Interviewer: Is it possible to abolish man's humanity? Levi: Unfortunately, yes. Unfortunately, yes; and that is real…"
"Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it."
"We who survived the Camps are not true witnesses. We are those who, through prevarication, skill or luck, never touch…"
"I beg the reader not to go in search of messages. It is a term that I detest because it distresses me greatly, for it…"
"And we must remember that [Hitler and Mussolini's] faithful followers, among them the diligent executors of inhuman o…"
"Translation is difficult work because the barriers between languages are higher than is generally thought … knowing h…"