All morning, I did nothing but repeat: "Man is an abyss, man is an abyss." — I could not, alas, find anything better. - Emil Cioran
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All morning, I did nothing but repeat: "Man is an abyss, man is an abyss." — I could not, alas, find anything better.
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About
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran (8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist whose work is known for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, which frequently engages with issues of suffering, decay, and nihilism.
Portrait adapted from
Wikimedia Commons, Photographer of Keyston agency/Getty Images before Rivarol Premium. Photo taken in the last years of Cioran's life-in-Romania, before his definitive transference in France (1947); first publication 1955-1960s; for Romanian law the artistic and non-artistic photo realized before 1956, or between the years 1956-1996, have their copyright expired. (Public domain / CC0)
Also Known As
Alternative Names:
Emil Mihai Cioran
•
Emil-Michel Cioran
Portrait from Wikimedia Commons. Credit: Photographer of Keyston agency/Getty Images before Rivarol Premium. Photo taken in the last years of Cioran's life-in-Romania, before his definitive transference in France (1947); first publication 1955-1960s; for Romanian law the artistic and non-artistic photo realized before 1956, or between the years 1956-1996, have their copyright expired.. Used under Public domain / CC0. Processed and styled by Quotewise.
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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.
Tragic paradox of freedom: the mediocre men who alone make its exercise possible cannot guarantee its duration.
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