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Thomas Ligotti

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Famous Thomas Ligotti Quotes

“No other life forms know they are alive, and neither do they know they will die. This is our curse alone. Without this hex upon our heads, we would never have withdrawn as far as we have from the natural—so far and for such a time that it is a relief to say what we have been trying with our all not to say: We have long since been denizens of the natural world. Everywhere around us are natural habitats, but within us is the shiver of startling and dreadful things. Simply put: We are not from here. If we vanished tomorrow, no organism on this planet would miss us. Nothing in nature needs us.”

IfsKnowsWorldNeedsTryingLongHas BeensFormDiesNaturalAliveMissingPlanetsTomorrowCurseReliefOrganismsNatural WorldHabitatShiverNatural Habitats
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“But even if ego-death is regarded as the optimum model for human existence, one of liberation from ourselves, it still remains a compromise with being, a concession to the blunder of creation itself. We should be able to do better, and we can. To have our egos killed off is second-best to killing off death and all the squalid byplay that flitters around it. So let all lands be small, and grower smaller and smaller until no lands are left where any human footstep need press itself upon the earth.”

IfsNeedsShouldHumansStillsAbleEarthLeftExistenceLandCreationEgoModelsRemainsPressesKillingCompromiseLiberationFootstepsHuman ExistenceBlundersConcessionsSecond BestOptimum
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“For optimists, human life never needs justification, no matter how much hurt piles up, because they can always tell themselves that things will get better. For pessimists, there is no amount of happiness—should such a thing as happiness even obtain for human beings except as a misconception—that can compensate us for life’s hurt.”

NeedsShouldHumansMatterHurtHuman BeingsAmountHuman LifeGet BetterJustificationOptimistPessimistMisconceptionThings Will Get Better
Author:Thomas Ligotti
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“While a modicum of consciousness may have had survivalist properties during an immemorial chapter of our evolution – so one theory goes – this faculty soon enough became a seditious agent working against us … we need to hamper our consciousness for all we are worth or it will impose upon us a too clear vision of what we do not want to see … Consciousness has forced us into the paradoxical position of striving to be unself-conscious of what we are – hunks of spoiling flesh on disintegrating bones”

WantNeedsMayEnoughConsciousnessVisionClearPositionTheoryEvolutionConsciousPropertyStriveBonesFleshAgentsFacultyChaptersParadoxicalSoon EnoughClear VisionHunkHamper
Author:Thomas Ligotti
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