374 Quotes by Emile M. Cioran

To venture upon an undertaking of any kind, even the most insignificant, is to sacrifice to envy.

Death makes no sense except to people who have passionately loved life. How can one die without having something to part from? Detachment is a negation of both life and death. Whoever has overcome his fear of death has also triumphed over life. For life is nothing but another word for this fear.

Consciousness is nature's nightmare.

Boredom dismantles the mind, renders it superficial, out at the seams, saps it from within and dislocates it.

Imaginary pains are by far the most real we suffer, since we feel a constant need for them and invent them because there is no way of doing without them.

The need for novelty is the characteristic of an alienated gorilla.

Existing is plagiarism.

I would like to go mad on one condition, namely, that I would become a happy madman, lively and always in a good mood, without any troubles and obsessions, laughing senselessly from morning to night.

Our first intuitions are the true ones.