The fact is, that what de Sade was trying to bring to the surface of the conscious mind was precisely the thing that revolted that mind . . . From the very first he set before the consciousness things which it could not tolerate. Georges Bataille More Quotes by Georges Bataille More Quotes From Georges Bataille In what will survive me I am in harmony with my annihilation. Georges Bataille annihilation harmony Sanity is the lot of those who are most obtuse, for lucidity destroys one's equilibrium: it is unhealthy to honestly endure the labors of the mind which incessantly contradict what they have just established. Georges Bataille equilibrium sanity mind The power of death signifies that this real world can only have a neutral image of life, that life's intimacy does not reveal it's dazzling consumption until the moment it gives out. Georges Bataille real doe giving I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction. Georges Bataille literature faces believe Entirety exists within me as exuberance in empty longing in the desire to burn with desire. Georges Bataille longing empty desire Thought does not ennoble us and neither does it differentiate humans from other animals. Georges Bataille humans doe animal The owl flies, in the moonlight, over a field where the wounded cry out. Like the owl, I fly in the night over my own misfortune. Georges Bataille fields owl night Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species alone, but it is above all the secret aspect, impenetrable and hidden. Crime hides, and by far the most terrifying things are those which elude us. Georges Bataille elude-us scary secret We reach ecstasy by a contestation of knowledge. Were I to stop at ecstasy and grasp it, in the end I would define it. Georges Bataille ecstasy ends A judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the one who speaks last, and the mind is at ease only at the moment when everyone is shouting at once and no one can hear a thing. Georges Bataille judging mind ease I think that knowledge enslaves us, that at the base of all knowledge there is a servility, the acceptation of a way of life wherein each moment has meaning only in relation to another or others that will follow it. Georges Bataille moments way thinking [F]or academic men to be happy, the universe would have to take shape. All of philosophy has no other goal: it is a matter of giving a frock coat to what is, a mathematical frock coat. On the other hand, affirming that the universe resembles nothing and is only formless amounts to saying that the universe is something like a spider or spit. Georges Bataille men philosophy hands When my face is flushed with blood, it becomes red and obscene. It betrays at the same time, through morbid reflexes, a bloody erection and a demanding thirst for indecency and criminal debauchery. Georges Bataille criminals red blood To others, the universe seems decent because decent people have welded eyes. That is why they fear lewdness. They are never frightened by the crowing of a rooster or when strolling under a starry heaven. In general, people savor the "pleasures of the flesh" only on the condition that they may be insipid. Georges Bataille eye fear people The sacred demands the violation of what is normally the object of terrified respect. Georges Bataille violation sacred demand We did not lack modesty—on the contrary—but something urgently drove us to defy modesty together as immodestly as possible. Georges Bataille contrary modesty together Existence as entirety remains beyond any one meaning and it is the conscious presence of humanness in the world inasmuch as this is nonmeaning, having nothing to do other than be what it is, no longer able to go beyond itself or give itself some kind of meaning through action. Georges Bataille able giving world What does physical eroticism signify if not a violation of the very being of its practitioners? – A violation bordering on death, bordering on murder? Georges Bataille violation murder doe The emotional element which gives an obsessive value to communal existence is death. Georges Bataille elements emotional giving In the helter-skelter of this book, I didn't develop my views as theory. In fact, I even believe that efforts of that kind are tainted with ponderousness. Nietzsche wrote "with his blood," and criticizing, or, better, experiencing him means pouring out one's lifeblood. It was only with my life that I wrote the Nietzsche book that I had planned. Georges Bataille mean believe book
