All our "most sacred affections" are merely prosaic habit. - Cesare Pavese

It had to happen to you, to concentrate your whole life on one point, and then discover that you can do anything except live at that point.

In general, the man who is readily disposed to sacrifice himself is one who does not know how else to give meaning to his life.
The profession of enthusiasm is the most sickening of all insincerities.

Great lovers will always be unhappy, because, for them, love is of supreme importance. Consequently they demand of their beloved the same intensity of thought as they have for her, otherwise they feel betrayed.