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Rene Daumal Quotes

Writer

Rene Daumal was a French writer known for his works of surrealism and mysticism. His life was filled with exploration and adventure, with a deep interest in philosophy and religion.

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All Men Thinking Art Climbing Errors Mountain Philosophy Climbs Desire Doe

Famous Rene Daumal Quotes

“This place has only three exits, sir: Madness, and Death.”

Philosophy Madness Insanity Surrealism

Book:A Night of Serious Drinking

Source: A Night of Serious Drinking

“I am dead because I lack desire, I lack desire because I think I possess, I think I possess because I do not try to give, In trying to give, you see that you have nothing, Seeing that you have nothing, you try to give of yourself, Trying to give of yourself, you see that you are nothing, Seeing that you are nothing, you desire to become, In desiring to become, you begin to live.”

Philosophy Desire Rebirth

Author:Rene Daumal

“...the most serious thing, and the strangest, is that we are afraid to the point of panic, not so much of seeing ourselves as of being seen by ourselves. This is our root absurdity. What is behind this great fear?”

Behinds Seeing Serious Roots Panic Absurdity Serious Things

Author:Rene Daumal

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”

“Philosophy teaches how man thinks he thinks; but drinking shows how he really thinks.”

Thinking Men Philosophy Shows Teach Drinking

Book:A Night of Serious Drinking

Source: A Night of Serious Drinking

“A knife is neither true nor false, but anyone impaled on its blade is in error.”

Errors Knives Blades

Book:Mount Analogue

Source: Mount Analogue

“Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are checks drawn on insufficient funds.”

Values Change Common Gold Checks Fund Currency Reserves Autism Insufficient Shared Experiences Common Experience

Book:A Night of Serious Drinking

Source: A Night of Serious Drinking

“Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double face: the reality of error and the phantom of truth.”

Art Reality Truth Faces Science Expression Illusion Scientist Errors Phantoms Double Standard

Author:Rene Daumal

“It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion.”

Writing Stills Enough Language Goal Confusion Clarity Imperatives Chatter

Book:A Night of Serious Drinking

Source: A Night of Serious Drinking

“Words are made for a certain exactness of thought, as tears are for a certain degree of pain. What is least distinct cannot be named; what is clearest is unutterable.”

Made Pain Certain Tears Degrees Exactness

Book:A Night of Serious Drinking

Source: A Night of Serious Drinking

“The door to the invisible must be visible.”

Doors Invisible Visible

Author:Rene Daumal

“Each time dawn appears, the mystery is there in its entirety.”

Inspirational Nature Morning Mystery Dawn Entirety

Author:Rene Daumal

“I am dead because I have no desire, I have no desire because I think I possess, I think I possess because I do not try to give; Trying to give, we see that we have nothing; Seeing that we have nothing, we try to give ourselves, Trying to give ourselves, we see that we are nothing, Seeing that we are nothing, we desire to become, Desiring to become, we live.”

Thinking Giving Trying Desire Seeing

Author:Rene Daumal

“Truth is one, but error proliferates. Man tracks it down and cuts it up into little pieces hoping to turn it into grains of truth. But the ultimate atom will always essentially be an error, a miscalculation.”

Men Littles Turns Pieces Cutting Truth Is Ultimate Down And Errors Track Atoms Grain Miscalculations

Author:Rene Daumal

“Definition: Alpinism is the art of going through the mountains confronting the greatest dangers with the biggest of cares. What we call art here, is the application of a knowledge to an action.”

Art Care Action Danger Mountain Definitions Climbing Application Confronting Alpinism

Author:Rene Daumal

“In the mythic tradition, the Mountain is the bond between Earth and Sky. Its solitary summit reaches the sphere of eternity, and its base spreads out in manifold foothills into the world of mortals. It is the way by which man can raise himself to the divine and by which the divine can reveal itself to man.”

Men World Way Earth Sky Divine Mountain Tradition Eternity Raises Spread Mortals Spheres Solitary Summit Manifold Earth And Sky

Author:Rene Daumal

“When feet doesn't want to hold you, you climb with your head. Maybe it isn't the natural order of things, but isn't it better to walk with your head than to think with your feet, as it happens so frequently?”

Thinking Want Happens Order Natural Walks Feet Climbs Climbing Natural Order

Author:Rene Daumal

“Man is head, chest and stomach. Each of these animals operates, more often than not, individually. I eat, I feel, I even, although rarely, think... This jungle crawls and teems, is hungry, roars, gets angry, devours itself, and its cacophonic concert does not even stop when you are asleep.”

Thinking Men Feels Doe Humanity Animal Angry Hungry Chests Concerts Stomach Jungle

Author:Rene Daumal

About the Author

Born: March 16, 1908
Died: May 21, 1944
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 18

Books & Sources

A Night of Serious DrinkingRelated source material

Mount AnalogueRelated source material

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