On The Heights Of Despair

I enjoy reading and re-reading Emil Cioran, the Romanian/French 'philosopher of despair'. Although he is certainly not as funny as Samuel Beckett (whom Cioran knew quite well) and not as open to the possibility of grace as Simone Weil (whom Cioran apparently never met), he shares that lightness of being that goes along with a deep appreciation for "the inconvenience of existence" (his own term). Here's a sampler of his work.

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In major perplexities, try to live as if history were done with and to react like a monster riddled by serenity.
       The Trouble With Being Born

The intrinsic value of a book does not depend on the importance of its subject (else the theologians would prevail, and mightily), but on the manner of approaching the accidental and the insignificant, of mastering the infinitesimal.
       The Trouble With Being Born

A moment comes when it seems futile to choose between metaphysics and amateurism, between the unfathomable and the anecdote.
       The Trouble With Being Born

The ideal being? An angel ravaged by humor.
       The Trouble With Being Born

I shall be reconciled to myself only when I accept death the way one accepts an invitation to a dinner: with amused distaste.
       Drawn And Quartered

A book should open old wounds, even inflict new ones. A book should be a danger.
       Drawn And Quartered

The only explanation for the creation of the world is God's fear of solitude. In other words, our role is to amuse our maker.
       Tears And Saints

The dead center of existence: when it is all the same to you whether you read a newspaper article or think of God.
       Tears And Saints

No man of vice can be condemned unless he ceases to look upon vice as a pretext and turns it into a goal.
       On The Heights of Despair

One of the great delusions of the average man is to forget that life is death's prisoner.
       On The Heights of Despair