Émile Michel Cioran: Zitate auf Englisch (seite 26)

“My mission is to see things as they are. Exactly the contrary of a mission.”

“Life is too full of death for death to be able to add anything to it.”

“Opinions, yes; convictions, no. That is the point of departure for an intellectual pride.”

“The more we try to wrest ourselves from our ego, the deeper we sink into it.”

“Nothing is indefensible — from the absurdest proposition to the most monstrous crime.”

“Consciousness is nature's nightmare.”

“A heart without music is like beauty without melancholy.”

“What is that one crucifixion compared to the daily kind any insomniac endures?”

“Nothing is so wearing as the possession or abuse of liberty.”

“When we have no further desire to show ourselves, we take refuge in music, the Providence of the abulic.”

“I foresee the day when we shall read nothing but telegrams and prayers.”

“We always love... despite; and that "despite" covers an infinity.”

“What am I, other than a chance in the infinite probabilities of not having been!”

“To be is to be cornered.”

“To withstand any truth…”

“Eternity is absence.”

“You really should come to the house — one of these days we might die without having seen each other again.”

“Each of us believes, quite unconsciously of course, that we alone pursue the truth, which the rest are incapable of seeking out and unworthy of attaining. This madness is so deep-rooted and so useful that it is impossible to realize what would become of each of us if it were someday to disappear.”

“Love of the absolute engenders a predilection for self-destruction. Hence the passion for monasteries and brothels. Cells and women, in both cases. Weariness with life fares well in the shadow of whores and saintly women.”