As far back as I can remember, I’ve utterly destroyed within myself the pride of being human. And I saunter to the periphery of the Race like a timorous monster, lacking the energy to claim kinship with some other band of apes.

— Emil M. Cioran

The cynicism of utter solitude is a Calvary relieved by insolence.

— Emil M. Cioran

The more we frequent men, the blacker our thoughts; and when, to clarify them, we return to our solitude, we find there the shadow they have cast.

— Emil M. Cioran

What are the occupations of the sage? He resigns himself to seeing, to eating, etc…., he accepts in spite of himself this “wound with nine openings,” which is what the Bhagavad-gītā calls the body.―Wisdom? To undergo with dignity the humiliation inflicted upon us by our holes.

— Emil M. Cioran