Cesare Pavese, This Business of Living, Date: 1939-09-09
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War makes men barbarous because, to take part in it, one must harden oneself against all regret, all appreciation of delicacy and sensitive values. One must live as if those values did not exist, and when the war is over one has lost the resilience to return to those values.

— Cesare Pavese on War

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "War makes men barbarous because, to take part in it, one must harden oneself against all regret, all appreciation of delicacy and sensitive values. One must live as if those values did not exist, and when the war is over one has lost the resilience to return to those values." in the context of "Cesare Pavese, This Business of Living, Date: 1939-09-09" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "War" (P) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Cesare Pavese

About Cesare Pavese

Cesare Pavese (9 September, 1908 – 27 August 1950) was an Italian novelist, poet, short-story writer, literary critic and translator.