487 quotes
The surest means of not losing your mind on the spot: remembering that everything is unreal, and will remain so...
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
But, braggart demons, we postpone our end: how could we renounce the display of our freedom, the show of our pride?
A Short History of Decay (1949)
Nothing is indefensible — from the absurdest proposition to the most monstrous crime.
A Short History of Decay (1949)
The moment we believe we've understood everything grants us the look of a murderer.
All Gall Is Divided (1952)
I cannot contribute anything to this world because I only have one method: agony.
On the Heights of Despair (1934)
Thanks to depression — that alpinism of the indolent — we scale every summit and daydream over every precipice from our bed.
All Gall Is Divided (1952)
I foresee the day when we shall read nothing but telegrams and prayers.
History and Utopia (1960)
I'd rather offer my life as a sacrifice than be necessary to anything.
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
We have convictions only if we have studied nothing thoroughly.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
How I wish I didn't know anything about myself and this world!
On the Heights of Despair (1934)
In our fear, we are victims of an aggression of the Future.
All Gall Is Divided (1952)
Life is not, and death is a dream. Suffering has invented them both as self-justification. Man alone is torn between an unreality and an illusion.
Tears and Saints (1937)
His power to adore is responsible for all his crimes: a man who loves a god unduly forces other men to love his god, eager to exterminate them if they refuse.
A Short History of Decay (1949)
Having always lived in fear of being surprised by the worst, I have tried in every circumstance to get a head start, flinging myself into misfortune long before it occurred.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
The initial revelation of any monastery: everything is nothing. Thus begin all mysticisms. It is less than one step from nothing to God, for God is the positive expression of nothingness.
Tears and Saints (1937)
I feel safer with a Pyrrho than with a St. Paul, for a jesting wisdom is gentler than an unbridled sanctity.
A Short History of Decay (1949)
One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland — and no other.
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
There is nothing to say about anything. So there can be no limit to the number of books.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
Except for music, everything is a lie, even solitude, even ecstasy. Music, in fact, is the one and the other, only better.
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
A word, once dissected, no longer signifies anything, is nothing. Like a body that, after an autopsy, is less than a corpse.
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)