E.M. Cioran

The author, no less than the work, must dissimulate his identity, yield everything of himself except the essential, persevere in his enchantment and his solitude, a sovereign subservient to his words, their dazzled slave.

Were the universe to vanish, nothing would be lost, since language would immediately take its place.

Devouring biographies one after the next to be convinced of the futility of any undertaking, of any destiny

A garbled quotation is equivalent to a betrayal, an insult, a prejudice all the more serious in that the intention was to do us a favor.

Beware of thinkers whose minds function only when they are fueled by a quotation.

To recognize in oneself all the vile instincts of which one is ashamed. . . . If they are so energetic in someone who strives to be rid of them, how much more virulent must they be in those who, lacking a minimum of lucidity, will never manage to be on their guard, and still less to loathe themselves!

we are all religious spirits without religion.

The need to devour oneself absolves one of the need to believe.

Everything that can be classified is perishable. Only what is susceptible to several interpretations endures.

In conversation with someone, whatever his merits may be, never forget for a moment that in his profound reactions he is no different from ordinary mortals. For discretion’s sake, you must handle him carefully, for like anyone else, he will not tolerate frankness, direct cause of almost all quarrels and grudges.