Emil Cioran

I lost my sleep, and this is the greatest tragedy that can befall someone. It is much worse than sitting in prison.

Isn't history ultimately the result of our fear of boredom?

However much I have frequented the mystics, deep down I have always sided with the Devil; unable to equal him in power, I have tried to be worthy of him, at least, in insolence, acrimony, arbitrariness and caprice.

I saw that philosophy had no power to make my life more bearable. Thus I lost my belief in philosophy.

If, at the limit, you can rule without crime, you cannot do so without injustices.

The capital phenomenon, the most catastrophic disaster, is uninterrupted sleeplessness, that nothingness without release.