# Cioran's most famous aphorisms

"We do not inhabit a country, we inhabit a language", canonisation through disgust with the world and man as an overworked animal: the most quoted aphorisms of Emil Cioran, with the book they come from.

- 41 votes · 14 items
- Feb 10, 2024 · Julie
- https://even.best/en/l/4993/cioran-s-most-famous-aphorisms

## Top 14

1. **We do not inhabit a country, we inhabit a language. That is our homeland, and nothing else.** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — Anathemas and Admirations (Aveux et anathèmes, 1987).
2. **Man is an overworked animal.** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Notebooks 1957-1972.
3. **We only think because we shy away from acting. To think is to hold back.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Notebooks 1957-1972.
4. **No one can live without believing they are more than they are.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Window on Nothingness (posthumous, 2019).
5. **Every form of haste, even toward the good, betrays some mental disorder.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — The Trouble with Being Born (1973).
6. **If disgust with the world alone conferred sainthood, I do not see how I could avoid canonisation.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — The Trouble with Being Born (1973).
7. **When the mob embraces a myth, expect a massacre or, worse still, a new religion.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — All Gall Is Divided (Syllogismes de l'amertume, 1952).
8. **Nothing cures us of anything.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Drafts of Vertigo (Ébauches de vertige, 1979).
9. **The mind is only truly pure in doubt.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Divagations (posthumous, 2019).
10. **The only favour we can ask of others is not to guess how pathetic we are.** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Notebooks 1957-1972.
11. **The world is made of empty words and silent pains.** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Window on Nothingness (posthumous, 2019).
12. **Hatred can be vile; yet getting rid of it is more dangerous than abusing it.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — All Gall Is Divided (Syllogismes de l'amertume, 1952).
13. **A smile is supposedly a sign of health and balance. The madman, it is true, laughs more than he smiles.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Drafts of Vertigo (Ébauches de vertige, 1979).
14. **To stay this side of panic, you have to spend time with people more panicked than yourself.** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Drafts of Vertigo (Ébauches de vertige, 1979).

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