It is no sign of benediction to have been obsessed with the lives of saints, for it is an obsession intertwined with a taste for maladies and hunger for depravities. One only troubles oneself with saints because one has been disappointed by the paradoxes of earthly life; one therefore searches out other paradoxes, more outlandish in guise, redolent of unknown truths, unknown perfumes... Emil M. Cioran
About This Quote

The idea that the lives of the saints are a source of inspiration for us is a popular idea. However, if you follow this train of thought, you may end up adopting a life that is much more unhealthy than you imagined. As you become involved in a life that has been lived by a saint, you may begin to feel like your own life is meaningless because the saint’s life has greater meaning. You might even end up having an unhealthy fascination with the maladies that plague the saint's life.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society. - Francis Of Assisi

  2. Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell. - Criss Jami

  3. God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners. - Unknown

  4. The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God. (City of God, Book 19) - Augustine Of Hippo

  5. The saints, too, had wandering minds. The saints, too, had constantly to recall their constantly wandering mind-child home. They became saints because they continued to go after the little wanderer, like the Good Shepherd. - Peter Kreeft

More Quotes By Emil M. Cioran
  1. Man starts over again everyday, in spite of all he knows, against all he knows.

  2. The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live --moreover, the only one.

  3. A zoologist who observed gorillas in their native habitat was amazed by the uniformity of their life and their vast idleness. Hours and hours without doing anything. Was boredom unknown to them? This is indeed a question raised by a human, a busy ape. Far...

  4. Knowledge subverts love: in proportion as we penetrate our secrets, we come to loathe our kind, precisely because they resemble us.

  5. To live entirely without a goal! I have glimpsed this state, and have often attained it, without managing to remain there: I am too weak for such happiness.

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