There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.
Primo LeviRead
Man is a centaur, a tangle of flesh and mind, divine inspiration and dust.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the dual nature of humanity, combining both the physical and intellectual aspects of our existence.
Primo Levi's quote suggests that humans embody a complex integration of both the material and the spiritual, highlighting the inherent contradictions of our nature. As 'centaurs' symbolize a blend of man and beast, Levi uses this metaphor to illustrate that we are not solely driven by physical instincts but also possess a transcendent aspect of thought and creativity, making us both earthly beings and dreamers.
In practice
During a philosophical discussion on the nature of existence.
There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.
The 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It was certainly not this mummified and outrageously painted old woman he was seeing before him, but the entire "female species," as it was his custom to call women. The individual disappeared, the features were obliterated, whether young or senile, beautiful or ugly - those were mere unimportant variations. Behind each woman rises the austere, sacred and mysterious face of Aphrodite.
Experience having long taught me the reasonableness of mutual sacrifices of opinion among those who are to act together for any common object, and the expediency of doing what good we can; when we cannot do all we would wish.
We live in an age of reproduction. Most of what makes up our personal picture of the world we have never seen with our own eyes--or rather, we've seen it with our own eyes, but not on the spot: our knowledge comes to us from a distance, we are televiewers, telehearers, teleknowers.
When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.
In an age of relativism, orthodoxy is the only possible rebellion left
When men understand what each other mean, they see, for the most part, that controversy is either superfluous or hopeless
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