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
For a long time—always, in fact—I have known that life here on earth is not what I needed and that I wasn’t able to deal with it; for this reason and for this reason alone, I have acquired a touch of spiritual pride, so that my existence seems to me the degradation and the erosion of a psalm.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a deep dissatisfaction with earthly life and a longing for something more spiritual.
Emile M. Cioran expresses a profound awareness of the inadequacies of life on earth, suggesting that his spiritual understanding has led to a sense of pride, albeit a touch of arrogance, in recognizing that his existence often feels like a degradation of higher values. This perspective reveals a struggle between the limitations of human experience and the yearning for a more meaningful spiritual existence.
Themes
SpiritualityExistenceDissatisfactionPrideLife
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a philosophical discussion about the meaning of life.
More from Emile M. Cioran
All quotes →We are afraid of the enormity of the possible.
Emile M. CioranRead
There was a time when time did not yet exist. … 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
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Thurgood MarshallRead
"But when you hear men talking," said Cornelia, "all they ever do is speak ill of women. 'And I don't quite know how they've managed to make this law in their favor, or who exactly it was who gave them a greater license to sin than is allowed to us; and if the fault is common to both sexes (as they can hardly deny), why should the blame not be as well?
Moderata FonteRead
All power is inherent in the people.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Every day People straighten up the hair, why not the heart?
Che GuevaraRead
God makes appointments with us in our disappointments. To see the pattern we must take three steps involving the heart, the mind, and the cross
Ravi ZachariasRead
We can no more justify using nonhumans as human resources than we can justify human slavery. Animal use and slavery have at least one important point in common: both institutions treat sentient beings exclusively as resources of others. That cannot be justified with respect to humans; it cannot be justified with respect to nonhumans—however “humanely” we treat them.
Gary L. FrancioneRead