Emil Cioran

Who was Emil Cioran?

Emil M. Cioran was a Romanian philosopher and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French.

Famous Quotes:

• Tyranny destroys or strengthens the individual; freedom enervates him, until he becomes no more than a puppet. Man has more chances of saving himself by hell than by paradise.
• We derive our vitality from our store of madness.
• Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.
• Much more than our other needs and endeavors, it is sexuality that puts us on an even footing with our kind: the more we practice it, the more we become like everyone else: it is in the performance of a reputedly bestial function that we prove our status as citizens: nothing is more public than the sexual act.
• Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.
• What would be left of our tragedies if an insect were to present us his?
• Torment, for some men, is a need, an appetite, and an accomplishment.
• Great persecutors are recruited among martyrs whose heads haven't been cut off.
• Only one endowed with restless vitality is susceptible to pessimism. You become a pessimist --a demonic, elemental, bestial pessimist --only when life has been defeated many times in its fight against depression.
• There is no means of proving it is preferable to be than not to be.