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Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are cheques drawn on insufficient funds.

— René Daumal A Night of Serious Drinking (1938)

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More quotes by René Daumal

Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double face: the reality of error and the phantom of truth.

The Lie of the Truth (1938)

Each time dawn appears, the mystery is there in its entirety.

Words are made for a certain exactness of thought, as tears are for a certain degree of pain. What is least distinct cannot be named; what is clearest is unutterable.

A Night of Serious Drinking (1938)

You cannot always stay on the summits. You have to come down again . . .

Mount Analogue (1952)

These are no doubt more methodical and complete, but are intelligible only after a little preliminary experience. The entire aim of these notes is to help the beginner acquire this preliminary experience a little faster.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: René Daumal (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.