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.
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
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.
There was a time when time did not yet exist. … The rejection of birth is nothing but the nostalgia for this time before time.
A marvel that has nothing to offer, democracy is at once a nation's paradise and its tomb.
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.
Ambition is a drug that makes its addicts potential madmen.
Similar quotes
God isn't the son of Memory; He's the son of Immediate Experience. You can't worship a spirit in spirit, unless you do it now. Wallowing in the past may be good literature. As wisdom, it's hopeless. Time Regained is Paradise Lost, and Time Lost is Paradise Regained. Let the dead bury their dead. If you want to live at every moment as it presents itself, you've got to die to every other moment.
...The God I know is one that promotes peace and freedom. But I get great sustenance from my personal relationship. That doesn't make me think I'm a better person than you are, by the way. Because one of the great admonitions in the Good Book is, don't try to take a speck out of your eye if I've got a log in my own.
How Americans restore trust may be an existential question for their country, then, but it's ultimately a practical one: What U.S. society needs to answer it in the coming years aren't lamentations but practical measures, especially among the emerging generations that will define America's future.
All manifest life seems to require a period of sleep, of calm, in which to gain added strength, renewed vigour, for the next manifestation, or awakening to activity. Thus is the march of all progress, of all manifest life - in waves, successive waves, [of] activity and repose. Waves succeed each other in an endless chain of progression.
Nothing that was real ever died, only names, forms, and illusions.
We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.