Cesare Pavese on Stubborn Concentration

A true revelation, it seems to me, will only emerge from stubborn concentration on a solitary problem.

I am not in league with inventors or adventurers, nor with travelers to exotic destinations. The surest -also the quickest- way to awake the sense of wonder in ourselves is to look intently, undeterred, at a single object. Suddenly, miraculously, it will reveal itself as something we have never seen before. 1

— Cesare Pavese, 1947

To perform at our best—in any activity—we need to quit everything else and bring all of our focus to the task at stake.

July 16, 2013