The premonition of madness is complicated by the fear of lucidity in madness, the fear of the moments of return and reunion... One would welcome chaos if one were not afraid of lights in it.
Emile M. CioranRead
Once you see that everything is unreal, you can't see why you should bother to prove it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that once one understands the illusory nature of reality, the pursuit of validation becomes unnecessary.
Emile M. Cioran reflects on the idea that recognizing the unreality of existence leads to a profound shift in perspective. When one comprehends that the constructs and validations we pursue are ultimately superficial, the compulsion to argue or prove one's point loses significance. This realization can bring about a sense of liberation from societal expectations and pressures.
Themes
IllusionRealityPerspectiveMeaningFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical debate about the nature of reality, this quote could serve as a point to discuss existentialism.
More from Emile M. Cioran
All quotes βWe are afraid of the enormity of the possible.
Emile M. CioranRead
There was a time when time did not yet exist. β¦ The rejection of birth is nothing but the nostalgia for this time before time.
Emile M. CioranRead
A marvel that has nothing to offer, democracy is at once a nation's paradise and its tomb.
Emile M. CioranRead
Paradise was unendurable, otherwise the first man would have adapted to it; this world is no less so, since here we regret paradise or anticipate another one. What to do? Where to go? Do nothing and go nowhere, easy enough.
Emile M. CioranRead
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.
Emile M. CioranRead
Similar quotes
I have long believed that there are fundamentally two forces or emotions that drive our decisions - love and fear. Love has its many manifestations: compassion, gratitude, kindness, and joy. Fear often manifests in cynicism, anger, jealousy, and anxiety. I worry that many of our communities are being driven by fear.
Vivek MurthyRead
Magic is a state of mind. It is often portrayed as very black and gothic, and that is because certain practitioners played that up for a sense of power and prestige. That is a disservice. Magic is very colorful. Of this, I am sure.
Alan MooreRead
And when a whirl-winde hath blowne the dust of the Churchyard into the Church, and man sweeps out the dust of the Church into the Church-yard, who will undertake to sift those dusts again, and to pronounce, This is the Patrician, this is the noble flower, and this the yeomanly, this the Plebian bran.
John DonneRead
It is useful that while mankind are imperfect there should be different opinions, so is it that there should be different experiments of living; that free scope should be given to varieties of character, short of injury to others.
John Stuart MillRead
Life isn't some vertical or horizontal line -- you have your own interior world, and it's not neat.
Patti SmithRead
And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
James MadisonRead