The future of humanity is uncertain, even in the most prosperous countries, and the quality of life deteriorates; and yet I believe that what is being discovered about the infinitely large and infinitely small is sufficient to absolve this end of the century and millennium. What a very few are acquiring in knowledge of the physical world will perhaps cause this period not to be judged as a pure return of barbarism.
Primo LeviThe work of bestial degradation, begun by the victorious Germans, had been carried to its conclusion by the Germans in defeat.
Primo LeviPerhaps Kafka laughed when he told stories [. . . ] because one isn't always equal to oneself.
Primo LeviIt is the duty of righteous men to make war on all undeserved privilege, but one must not forget that this is a war without end.
Primo LeviThe 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.
Primo Levi