487 quotes
Woe to the book you can read without constantly wondering about the author!
Drawn and Quartered (1983)
Consciousness is much more than the thorn, it is the dagger in the flesh.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
Truths begin by a conflict with the police — and end by calling them in.
A Short History of Decay (1949)
We should, out of decency, choose for ourselves the moment to disappear.
The New Gods (1969)
Not one moment when I have not been conscious of being outside Paradise.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
Espousing the melancholy of ancient symbols, I would have freed myself.
A Short History of Decay (1949)
Endless brooding over a question undermines you as much as a dull pain.
The New Gods (1969)
No position is so false as having understood and still remaining alive.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
To think is to submit to the whims and commands of an uncertain health.
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
What is marvelous is that each day brings us a new reason to disappear.
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
Utopia is a mixture of childish rationalism and secularized angelism.
History and Utopia (1960)
If there is anyone who owes everything to Bach, it is certainly God.
All Gall Is Divided (1952)
Lucidity's task: to attain a correct despair, an Olympian ferocity.
All Gall Is Divided (1952)
I dream of a language whose words, like fists, would fracture jaws.
The New Gods (1969)
There is no means of proving it is preferable to be than not to be.
The New Gods (1969)
The need for novelty is the characteristic of an alienated gorilla.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
The wrinkles of a nation are as visible as those of an individual.
The Temptation to Exist (1956)
We are born to exist, not to know, to be, not to assert ourselves.
History and Utopia (1960)
Is it conceivable to adhere to a religion founded by someone else?
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
Why do you lack the strength to escape the obligation to breathe?
A Short History of Decay (1949)