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Georges Bataille Quotes

Author

French author and philosopher, born on September 10, 1897, and died on July 9, 1962. Bataille is known for his unique literary style and philosophical thinking, with works spanning various forms including novels, essays, and critiques.

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All Literature Giving Humans Desire Ends Entirety Facts Men Existence Ifs Philosophy World Death Doe Ecstasy Mind Moments Want Animal Blood

Famous Georges Bataille Quotes

“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.”

World Giving Kind Able Action Existence Conscious Remains Entirety Humanness

Author:Georges Bataille

“If I give up the viewpoint of action, my perfect nakedness is revealed to me.”

Ifs Giving Action Perfect Giving Up Viewpoints

Book:On Nietzsche

Source: On Nietzsche

“Human entirety can only be what it is when giving up the addiction to others' ends.”

Giving Humans Ends Giving Up Addiction Entirety

Book:On Nietzsche

Source: On Nietzsche

“Realism gives me the impression of a mistake. Violence alone escapes the feeling of poverty of those realistic experiences. Only death and desire have the force that oppresses, that takes one's breath away. Only the extremism of desire and death enable one to attain the truth.”

Giving Feelings Desire Force Mistake Poverty Violence Give Me Breaths Impression Realistic Realism Extremism

Author:Georges Bataille

“The emotional element which gives an obsessive value to communal existence is death.”

Giving Values Existence Emotional Elements Obsessive

Author:Georges Bataille

“[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.”

Men Giving Matter Philosophy Hands Universe Goal Amount Shapes Mathematical Academic Coats Spiders Spit Affirming

Book:Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-1939

Source: Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-1939

“Intellectual despair results in neither weakness nor dreams, but in violence. It is only a matter of knowing how to give vent to one's rage; whether one only wants to wander like madmen around prisons, or whether one wants to overturn them.”

Want Giving Matter Dream Literature Results Knowing Violence Despair Intellectual Weakness Prison Rage Wander Madmen

Book:Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-1939

Source: Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-1939

“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.”

World Giving Doe Real Moments Intimacy Real World Consumption Dazzling

Book:Theory of religion

Source: Theory of religion

“At man's core there is a voice that wants him never to give in to fear. But if it is true that in general man cannot give in to fear, at the very least he postpones indefinitely the moment when he will have to confront himself with the object of his fear... when he will no longer have the assistance of reason as guaranteed by God, or when he will no longer have the assistance of God such as reason guaranteed. It is necessary to recoil, but it is necessary to leap, and perhaps one only recoils in order to leap better.”

Ifs Men Want Giving Reason Moments God Order Voice Objects Core Leap Assistance Want Him Recoil

Author:Georges Bataille

“The anguish of the neurotic individual is the same as that of the saint. The neurotic, the saint are engaged in the same battle. Their blood flows from similar wounds. But the first one gasps and the other one gives.”

Giving Firsts Individual Blood Battle Flow Saint Wounds Engaged Anguish Neurotic Neurosis Blood Flow

Author:Georges Bataille

“My true church is a whorehouse – the only one that gives me true satisfaction.”

Giving Church Give Me Satisfaction

Book:Guilty

Source: Guilty

About the Author

Born: September 10, 1897
Died: July 9, 1962
Known for: Author
Quotes: 124

Books & Sources

Inner ExperienceRelated source material

On NietzscheRelated source material

Erotism: Death and SensualityRelated source material

GuiltyRelated source material

Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-1939Related source material

ErotismRelated source material

My motherRelated source material

Theory of religionRelated source material

Death and Sensuality: A Study of Eroticism and the TabooRelated source material

Lo arcangélico y otros poemasRelated source material

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