Home > Work > Infinite Resignation: On Pessimism
1 " The pull of the organic towards the inorganic, of the animate towards the inanimate, of the living towards the unliving - the pull towards something "old." In these moments, the human being is turned inside-out, revealing the entirety of human civilization as a bg-brain neurosis, beneath which a deeper, multi-layered geo-trauma manifests itself in a myriad of ways, from frenetic protozoa to the torpid, stumbling forth of human self-awareness. "
― Eugene Thacker , Infinite Resignation: On Pessimism
2 " (I long for someone to invent a punctuation mark for despondency…) "
3 " Two kinds of pessimism: “The end is near” and “Will this never end? "
4 " Pessimism is the night-side of thought, a melodrama of the futility of the brain, a lyricism written in the graveyard of philosophy. "
5 " A crying baby is the purest expression of the inanity of being human. "
6 " The indifference of the everyday gets the better of us all. "
7 " What is repulsive about children - all children - is not that they are not yet adults, but that they are already adults - whining, self-absorbed, demanding attention, unable to care for themselves, throwing tantrums when things don't go their way. Far from what we tell ourselves, children are the most concise expressions of humanity. At least children are unaware of this. "
8 " When solutions produce problems, when thought flounders in the absence of order, unity, and purpose, when healthy skepticism turns into pathological sarcasm – this is usually when pessimism enters the fray. "
9 " There is no surer sign of pessimism than an overly-optimistic person. "
10 " Whenever it occurs, however it occurs, pessimism has but one effect: it introduces humility into thought. It undermines the innumerable, self-aggrandizing postures that constitute the human being. Pessimism is the humility of the species that has named itself, thought furtively stumbling upon its own limitations on black wings of futility. "
11 " The most devastating thing about suffering is that it is relative. There is always someone who hurts more, someone who hurts less. "
12 " For optimists, the most perplexing question is how one becomes a pessimist – if one is not born one. For the pessimist, the question is how each person, by virtue of being born, is not already a pessimist. "
13 " Kierkegaard famously wrote “my sorrow is my castle.” Unfortunately not all of us have as much space. "
14 " One who has ceased being irritated by others, but who remains a misanthrope. "
15 " Arguably, “solitude” is an urban word. The café is the urban equivalent of the desert cave. "
16 " How are things going?” “Oh, I can’t complain…” The greatest complaint of all. "
17 " Are you a pessimist?” “On my better days… "
18 " Happiness is the feeling you have just before something goes wrong. "
19 " It is often said that the more spiritual a person becomes, the more unassuming they are. Eventually, they vanish entirely. "
20 " Human culture: a kind of incessant ringing in the ears. "
