There's an old saying: 'No piece of writing is ever finished, it's just abandoned.' But my own rule is: No piece of work is done until you want to kill everyone involved in the publishing process, especially yourself.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Give me lust, baby. Flash. Give me malice. Flash. Give me detached existentialist ennui. Flash. Give me rampant intellectualism as a coping mechanism. Flash.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the complexity of human emotions and the often superficial expressions of deep feelings.
In this quote, Chuck Palahniuk captures the tumultuous nature of human experience by juxtaposing intense desires and emotions with a sense of detachment and existential reflection. He suggests that people often resort to fleeting moments of passion and intellectualism to cope with deeper feelings of ennui and the absurdity of existence, highlighting the contrast between raw human instinct and the search for meaning in a chaotic world.
Themes
ExistentialismIntellectEmotionDetachmentPassion
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on the complexity of human emotions, you could use this quote to illustrate the duality of desire and detachment.
More from Chuck Palahniuk
All quotes →Griping isn't the same as creating something. Rebelling isn't rebuilding. Ridiculing isn't replacing. We've taken the world apart but we have no idea what to do with the pieces.
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If we can forgive what’s been done to us... If we can forgive what we’ve done to others... If we can leave all of our stories behind. Our being villains or victims. Only then can we maybe rescue the world.
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We're all trapped. It's always 1734. All of us, we're stuck in the same time capsule, the same as those television shows where the same people are marooned on the same desert island for thirty seasons and never age or escape. They just wear more makeup. In a creepy way, those shows are maybe too authentic.
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One thing I really envy about my friends who have kids is that as their children develop, they're able to revisit their own developmental stages and recognise themselves and undo a lot of things they decided.
Chuck PalahniukRead
If you knew that your life was merely a phase or short, short segment of your entire existence, how would you live? Knowing nothing 'real' was at risk, what would you do? You'd live a gigantic, bold, fun, dazzling life. You know you would. That's what the ghosts want us to do - all the exciting things they no longer can.
Chuck PalahniukRead
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