QuoteProject
I have always struggled, with the sole intention of ceasing to struggle. Result: zero.
Emile M. Cioran
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the futility of striving against one's struggles, suggesting that such efforts can lead to feeling defeated.

Emile M. Cioran's quote expresses a profound insight into the human condition; it illustrates how the constant battle against one's struggles can often seem fruitless, leading to a sense of resignation or even despair. The more one tries to end their struggles, the more they may find themselves trapped in a cycle of frustration, ultimately resulting in feelings of emptiness or no significant change. Cioran highlights the paradox of effort and struggle – despite the intention of overcoming difficulties, one might find themselves achieving nothing in the end.

Themes

StruggleFutilityEffortPhilosophyLife

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about overcoming life's challenges.

More from Emile M. Cioran

The premonition of madness is complicated by the fear of lucidity in madness, the fear of the moments of return and reunion... One would welcome chaos if one were not afraid of lights in it.
Emile M. CioranRead
We are afraid of the enormity of the possible.
Emile M. CioranRead
There was a time when time did not yet exist. … The rejection of birth is nothing but the nostalgia for this time before time.
Emile M. CioranRead
A marvel that has nothing to offer, democracy is at once a nation's paradise and its tomb.
Emile M. CioranRead
Paradise was unendurable, otherwise the first man would have adapted to it; this world is no less so, since here we regret paradise or anticipate another one. What to do? Where to go? Do nothing and go nowhere, easy enough.
Emile M. CioranRead
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.
Emile M. CioranRead

Similar quotes

Philosophy begins where religion ends, just as by analogy chemistry begins where alchemy runs out, and astronomy takes the place of astrology.
Christopher HitchensRead
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.
Jonathan SwiftRead
The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.
Rudyard KiplingRead
Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind.
ZhuangziRead
Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you.
Byron KatieRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.