There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.
Primo LeviRead
The living are more demanding; the dead can wait.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that the needs and concerns of the living take precedence over those who have passed away.
Primo Levi's quote highlights the urgency and importance of addressing the needs, responsibilities, and emotions of those who are still alive. It serves as a reminder that while we may honor the memory of the dead, our actions and attentions should be focused on supporting and caring for the living, as they face immediate challenges and experiences that require our engagement and action.
Themes
LifeLivingDemandingDeadResponsibilityCare
In practice
Example use cases
In a memorial speech, one might say this quote to remind attendees that while we remember those we've lost, we must also support those who are still with us.
More from Primo Levi
All quotes βThe bond between a man and his profession is similar to that which ties him to his country; it is just as complex, often ambivalent, and in general it is understood completely only when it is broken: by exile or emigration in the case of one's country, by retirement in the case of a trade or profession.
Primo LeviRead
To destroy a man is difficult, almost as difficult as to create one: it has not been easy, nor quick, but you Germans have succeeded. Here we are, docile under your gaze; from our side you have nothing more to fear; no acts of violence, no words of defiance, not even a look of judgment.
Primo LeviRead
They sensed that what had happened around them and in their presence, and in them, was irrevocable. Never again could it be cleansed; it would prove that man, the human species - we, in short - had the potential to construct an enormity of pain, and that pain is the only force created from nothing, without cost and without effort. It is enough not to see, not to listen, not to act.
Primo LeviRead
I live in my house as I live inside my skin: I know more beautiful, more ample, more sturdy and more picturesque skins: but it would seem to me unnatural to exchange them for mine.
Primo LeviRead
Imagine now a man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same time of his house, his habits, his clothes, in short, of everything he possesses: he will be a hollow man, reduced to suffering and needs, forgetful of dignity and restraint, for he who loses all often loses himself.
Primo LeviRead
Similar quotes
Grief is accepting the reality of what is. That is grief's job and purpose-to allow us to come to terms with the way things really are, so that we can move on. Grief is a gift of God. Without it, we would all be condemned to a life of continually denying reality, arguing or protesting against reality, and never growing from the realities we experience.
Henry CloudRead
To all those who lead monotonous lives in the hope that they may experience at second hand the delights and dangers of adventure. [author's dedication]
Agatha ChristieRead
Gemma, you see how it is. They've planned our entire lives, from what we shall wear to whom we shall marry and where we shall live. It's one lump of sugar in your tea whether you like it or not and you'd best smile even if you're dying deep inside. We're like pretty horses, and just as on horses, they mean to put blinders on us so we can't look left or right but only straight ahead where they would lead. Please, please, please, Gemma, let's not die inside before we have to.
Libba BrayRead
I felt like a kid standing in the world's greatest video arcade without any quarters, unable to do anything but walk around and watch the other kids play.
Ernest ClineRead
The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.
Helen HayesRead
There's two things everybody got to find out for themselves: they got to find out about love, and they got to find out about living. Now, love is like the sea. It's a moving thing. And it's different on every shore. And living... well... There are years that ask questions and years that answer.
Zora Neale HurstonRead