The anguish of the neurotic individual is the same as that of the saint. The neurotic, the saint are engaged in the same battle. Their blood flows from similar wounds. But the first one gasps and the other one gives.
Georges BatailleRead
Eroticism is assenting to life even in death.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that even in the face of death, embracing eroticism is an affirmation of life.
Georges Bataille's statement highlights the idea that the experience of eroticism represents a deep connection to life itself, even when confronted with the inevitability of death. It suggests that the pursuit of pleasure and passion can serve as a powerful affirmation of existence, emphasizing the duality of life and death where the acceptance of one includes an appreciation of the other.
Themes
EroticismLifeDeathExistencePleasure
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the philosophy of existentialism in a literature class.
More from Georges Bataille
All quotes →A judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the one who speaks last, and the mind is at ease only at the moment when everyone is shouting at once and no one can hear a thing.
Georges BatailleRead
I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.
Georges BatailleRead
What does physical eroticism signify if not a violation of the very being of its practitioners? – A violation bordering on death, bordering on murder?
Georges BatailleRead
It is clear that the world is purely parodic, that each thing seen is the parody of another, or is the same thing in a deceptive form.
Georges BatailleRead
I think that knowledge enslaves us, that at the base of all knowledge there is a servility, the acceptation of a way of life wherein each moment has meaning only in relation to another or others that will follow it.
Georges BatailleRead
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