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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on human dissatisfaction with life, suggesting that even paradise would be unfulfilling due to our tendency to long for something better.
In this quote, Cioran conveys the idea that human beings are inherently dissatisfied, regardless of their circumstances. He posits that paradise, an ideal state, would be unendurable because our nature drives us to always seek more, leading to a constant state of longing and regret. The suggestion of doing nothing and going nowhere reflects a recognition of the futility of such desires, prompting a contemplation of existence and the human condition.
Themes
Human ConditionDissatisfactionParadiseExistenceLonging
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of happiness, this quote can illustrate how people often strive for unattainable ideals.
More from Emile M. Cioran
All quotes →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
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.
Emile M. CioranRead
Ambition is a drug that makes its addicts potential madmen.
Emile M. CioranRead
Similar quotes
We would be deceiving both ourselves and the people if we concealed from the masses the necessity of a desperate, bloody war of extermination, as the immediate task of the coming revolutionary action.
Vladimir LeninRead
A certain sense of cruelty towards oneself and others is Christian; hatred of those who think differently; the will to persecute. Mortal hostility against the masters of the earth, against the 'noble', that is also Christian; hatred of mind, of pride, courage, freedom, libertinage of mind, is Christian; hatred of the senses, of joy in general, is Christian.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that it purloined. Over the years, as the memory of Sophie Mol ... slowly faded, the Loss of Sophie Mol grew robust and alive. It was always there. Like a fruit in season. Every season. As permanent as a government job.
Arundhati RoyRead
And over your unconsecrated head you'll hear the howling wolves lament their fate and yours the livelong year.
Charles BaudelaireRead
We are completely unaware of our true nature because we identify ourselves with our body, our emotions and our thoughts, thus losing sight of our unchanging centre, which is pure consciousness. When we return to our true nature, our thoughts and perceptions no longer appear as modifications of a single substance, they come into being and subside like waves of the ocean.
Jean KleinRead
There is a tradition of opposition between adherents of induction and of deduction. In my view it would be just as sensible for the two ends of a worm to quarrel.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead