“A man does not kill himself, as is commonly supposed, in a fit of madness but rather in a fit of unendurable lucidity, in a paroxysm which may, if so desired, be identified with madness; for an excessive perspicacity, carried to the limit and of which one longs to be rid at all costs, exceeds the context of reason.”

The New Gods (1969)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 6, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A man does not kill himself, as is commonly supposed, in a fit of madness but rather in a fit of unendurable lucidity, …" by Emil M. Cioran?
Emil M. Cioran photo
Emil M. Cioran 531
Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911–1995

Related quotes

Joyce Carol Oates photo
Emil M. Cioran photo
Michel Foucault photo
Henri Barbusse photo

“All is madness. And there is no one who will dare to rise and say that all is not madness, and that the future does not so appear — as fatal and unchangeable as a memory.”

Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) French novelist

Light (1919), Ch. XVI - De Profundis Clamavi
Context: All is madness. And there is no one who will dare to rise and say that all is not madness, and that the future does not so appear — as fatal and unchangeable as a memory.
But how many men will there be who will dare, in face of the universal deluge which will be at the end as it was in the beginning, to get up and cry "No!" who will pronounce the terrible and irrefutable issue: —
"No! The interests of the people and the interests of all their present overlords are not the same.

Epictetus photo

“"But to be hanged—is that not unendurable?" Even so, when a man feels that it is reasonable, he goes off and hangs himself.”

Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece

Book I, ch. 2.
Discourses

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“A man who does not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Dinesh D'Souza photo
Ursula K. Le Guin photo
Ernest Flagg photo

“Reason requires all things to have a use and be appropriate and fitted to the purpose for which they are used.”

Ernest Flagg (1857–1947) American architect

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)

Frank Zappa photo

“One size does not fit all.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

Related topics