Auschwitz

bureaucrat

butterfly

centaur

civilization

consent

dawn

deprivation

diversity

evil

exile

fascism

functionary

gossiping

happiness

Holocaust

Holocaust denial

Holocaust survivor

home

indifference

matter

memory

monster

naming

pain

Palestine

perfection

poverty

Primo Levi

privilege

purpose

reaction

recollection

redemption

sailing

self-mutilation

sorrow

stupidity

survivor

tolerance

witnessing

nationality

Italian

occupation / innovator as

poet

politician

autobiographer

science fiction writer

novelist

chemist

religion

Judaism

atheism

cause of death

suicide

odds and ends

is a place where the only exit was by way of the chimney.

It is this refrain that we hear repeated by everyone: you are not at home, this is not a sanatorium, the only exit is by way of the Chimney. (What did it mean? Soon we were all to learn what it meant.)

is a creature whose attractiveness derives not only from colors and symmetry. We would not think them so beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the value of a badly decoded message, a symbol, a sign.

The butterfly's attractiveness derives not only from colors and symmetry: deeper motives contribute to it. We would not think them so beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the value of a badly decoded message, a symbol, a sign.

is a fundamental power -- the last power the dehumanized slave possesses is the power to refuse his consent.

Even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilization. We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death, but we still possess one power, and we must defend it with all our strength for it is the last — the power to refuse our consent.

is, for the conquered, a betrayer; a new sun rising as if an ally of your enemies to assist in your destruction.

Dawn came on us like a betrayer; it seemed as though the new sun rose as an ally of our enemies to assist in our destruction.

is an explosive relief that is experienced as a reward for obeying nature, for obeying a primary need.

Anyone who has obeyed nature by transmitting a piece of gossip experiences the explosive relief that accompanies the satisfying of a primary need.

is as unttainable as is perfect unhappiness, for human condition is opposed to everything infinite.

Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable. The obstacles preventing the realization of both these extreme states are of the same nature: they derive from our human condition which is opposed to everything infinite.

is an event that one cannot and must not understand, because to understand is almost to justify. They are non-human words and deeds, really counter-human.

Perhaps one cannot, what is more one must not, understand what happened, because to understand [the Holocaust] is almost to justify. . . no normal human being will ever be able to identify with Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Eichmann, and endless others. This dismays us, and at the same time gives us a sense of relief, because perhaps it is desirable that their words (and also, unfortunately, their deeds) cannot be comprehensible to us. They are non-human words and deeds, really counter-human. . . Primo Levi

is a repudiation of God --- There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.

There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.

is lived in like living in ones skin: There are nicer ones out there, but it would be unnatural to exchange them for mine.

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 Levi

is a centaur, a tangle of flesh and mind, divine inspiration and dust.

Man is a centaur, a tangle of flesh and mind, divine inspiration and dust. Primo Levi

is a marvelous but fallacious instrument. The memories which lie within us are not carved in stone... not only do they tend to become erased as the years go by, but often they change, or even increase by incorporating extraneous features.

Human memory is a marvelous but fallacious instrument. The memories which lie within us are not carved in stone... not only do they tend to become erased as the years go by, but often they change, or even increase by incorporating extraneous features. Primo Levi

 does exist, but is too few in numbers to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions.

Monsters exist, but they are too few in numbers to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions. Primo Levi

is Israel's Jew. As we all know, in history, everybody is always someone's Jew.

Everybody is somebody's Jew. And today the Palestinians are the Jews of the Israelis. Primo Levi

is dehumanizing --- He who loses all often easily loses himself.

For he who loses all often easily loses himself.

is a normal man with a good memory who fell into a maelstrom and got out of it more by luck than by virtue, and who from that time on has preserved a certain curiosity about maelstroms large and small, metaphorical and actual.

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 forces on me clothes that are not mine, which in fact belong to a human type that I distrust; the prophet, the soothsayer, the seer. I am none of these; I'm a normal man with a good memory who fell into a maelstrom and got out of it more by luck than by virtue, and who from that time on has preserved a certain curiosity about maelstroms large and small, metaphorical and actual.

is rational only if one has one's second reaction before the first.

I have many times been praised for my lack of animosity towards the Germans. It's not a philosophical virtue. It's a habit of having my second reactions before the first. Primo Levi

is constructed inversely to happiness --- sorrow is never greater than when you are remembering a happy time in a state of misery; and yet, calling up sorrow in a happy mood is a source of profound satisfaction.

If it is true that there is no greater sorrow than to remember a happy time in a state of misery, it is just as true that calling up a moment of anguish in a tranquil mood, seated quietly at one's desk, is a source of profound satisfaction.

is a more painful thing to be called than being called gluttonous, mendacious, violent, lascivious, lazy, cowardly: Every weakness, every vice, has found its defenders, its rhetoric, its ennoblement and exaltation, but stupidity hasn't.

To accuse another of having weak kidneys, lungs, or heart, is not a crime... on the contrary, saying he has a weak brain is a crime. To be considered stupid and to be told so is more painful than being called gluttonous, mendacious, violent, lascivious, lazy, cowardly: every weakness, every vice, has found its defenders, its rhetoric, its ennoblement and exaltation, but stupidity hasn't. Primo Levi

is not the true witness. Through prevarication, skill or luck, he never touched bottom. Those who have, and who have seen the face of the gorgon, did not return, or returned wordless.

We who survived the Camps are not true witnesses. We are those who, through prevarication, skill or luck, never touched bottom. Those who have, and who have seen the face of the Gorgon, did not return, or returned wordless. Primo Levi

is such that the surviver is not the true witness. Through prevarication, skill or luck, he never touched bottom. Those who have, and who have seen the face of the gorgon, did not return, or returned wordless.

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