Emil Cioran

Skepticism is the sadism of embittered souls.

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Sperm is a bandit in its pure state.

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Man starts over again everyday, in spite of all he knows, against all he knows.

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A sudden silence in the middle of a conversation suddenly brings us back to essentials: it reveals how dearly we must pay for the invention of speech.

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

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Ennui is the echo in us of time tearing itself apart.

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I foresee the day when we shall read nothing but telegrams and prayers.

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Philosophers write for professors; thinkers for writers.

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Consciousness is much more than the thorn, it is the dagger in the flesh.

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Tolerance - the function of an extinguished ardor - tolerance cannot seduce the young.

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A marvel that has nothing to offer, democracy is at once a nation's paradise and its tomb.

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Torment, for some men, is a need, an appetite, and an accomplishment.

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Insomnia is a vertiginous lucidity that can convert paradise itself into a place of torture.

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No one can enjoy freedom without trembling.

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My mission is to kill time, and time's to kill me in its turn. How comfortable one is among murderers.

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In order to have the stuff of a tyrant, a certain mental derangement is necessary.

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In a republic, that paradise of debility, the politician is a petty tyrant who obeys the laws.

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The fanatic is incorruptible: if he kills for an idea, he can just as well get himself killed for one; in either case, tyrant or martyr, he is a monster.

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Life creates itself in delirium and is undone in ennui.

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If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot.

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Quotes by Emil Cioran