Man must vanquish himself, must do himself violence, in order to perform the slightest action untainted by evil.
Emile M. Cioran

Man starts over again everyday, in spite of all he knows, against all he knows.
Emile M. Cioran

Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.
Emile M. Cioran

My mission is to kill time, and time's to kill me in its turn. How comfortable one is among murderers.
Emile M. Cioran

Negation is the mind's first freedom, yet a negative habit is fruitful only so long as we exert ourselves to overcome it, adapt it to our needs; once acquired it can imprison us.
Emile M. Cioran

No one can enjoy freedom without trembling.
Emile M. Cioran

No one recovers from the disease of being born, a deadly wound if there ever was one.
Emile M. Cioran

Nothing is so wearing as the possession or abuse of liberty.
Emile M. Cioran

Nothing proves that we are more than nothing.
Emile M. Cioran

One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland - and no other.
Emile M. Cioran

One hardly saves a world without ruling it.
Emile M. Cioran

Our first intuitions are the true ones.
Emile M. Cioran

Our works, whatever they may be, derive from our incapacity to kill or to kill ourselves.
Emile M. Cioran

Philosophers write for professors; thinkers for writers.
Emile M. Cioran

Philosophy: Impersonal anxiety; refuge among anemic ideas.
Emile M. Cioran

Progress is the injustice each generation commits with regard to its predecessors.
Emile M. Cioran

Reason is a whore, surviving by simulation, versatility, and shamelessness.
Emile M. Cioran

Revenge is not always sweet, once it is consummated we feel inferior to our victim.
Emile M. Cioran

Since all life is futility, then the decision to exist must be the most irrational of all.
Emile M. Cioran

Skepticism is the sadism of embittered souls.
Emile M. Cioran