Cioran, E. M.

Quotes:

"Show me one thing here on earth which has begun well and not ended badly. The proudest palpitations are engulfed in a sewer, where they cease throbbing, as though having reached their natural term: this downfall constitutes the heart's drama and the negative meaning of history."

"A decadent civilization compromises with its disease, cherishes the virus infecting it, loses its self-respect."

"The source of our actions resides in an unconscious propensity to regard ourselves as the center, the cause, and the conclusion of time. Our reflexes and our pride transform into a planet the parcel of flesh and consciousness we are."

"Man must vanquish himself, must do himself violence, in order to perform the slightest action untainted by evil."

"There is no means of proving it is preferable to be than not to be."

"To exist is equivalent to an act of faith, a protest against the truth, an interminable prayer. As soon as they consent to live, the unbeliever and the man of faith are fundamentally the same, since both have made the only decision that defines a being."

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