Emile M. Cioran

“Life inspires more dread than death - it is life which is the great unknown.”

“The fear of being deceived is the vulgar version of the quest for Truth.”

“Crime in full glory consolidates authority by the sacred fear it inspires.”

“Isn't history ultimately the result of our fear of boredom?”

“No one can enjoy freedom without trembling.”

“For you who no longer posses it, freedom is everything, for us who do, it is merely an illusion.”

“Negation is the mind's first freedom, yet a negative habit is fruitful only so long as we exert ourselves to overcome it, adapt it to our needs once acquired it can imprison us.”

“What does the future, that half of time, matter to the man who is infatuated with eternity?”

“To act is to anchor in an imminent future, so imminent it becomes almost tangible to act is to feel you are consubstantial with that future.”

“Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.”

“To Live signifies to believe and hope - to lie and to lie to oneself.”

“We would not be interested in human beings if we did not have the hope of someday meeting someone worse off than ourselves.”

“Life is possible only by the deficiencies of our imagination and memory.”

“Intelligence flourishes only in the ages when belief withers.”

“Jealousy - that jumble of secret worship and ostensible aversion.”

“What surrounds us we endure better for giving it a name - and moving on.”

“Woes and wonders of Power, that tonic hell, synthesis of poison and panacea.”

“Society is not a disease, it is a disaster. What a stupid miracle that one can live in it.”