Georges Bataille Quotes

A collection of quotes by Georges Bataille.

Georges Bataille (1897-1962) was a French writer, philosopher, and anthropologist. He is known for his provocative and transgressive works that explore themes of eroticism, death, and the limits of rationality. Bataille's writings often challenge societal norms and traditional values, emphasizing the importance of the irrational and the disruptive forces within human existence. His notable works include "Story of the Eye," "The Accursed Share," and "Erotism: Death and Sensuality." Bataille's unique and controversial perspective continues to influence various fields, including literature, philosophy, and cultural studies.

Intellectual despair results in neither weakness nor dreams,

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.

Georges Bataille


Beauty is desired in order that it may be befouled; not for

Beauty is desired in order that it may be befouled; not for its own sake, but for the joy brought by the certainty of profaning it.

Georges Bataille


is what makes moments caught up in the immanence of return s

is what makes moments caught up in the immanence of return suddenly appear as ends. In every other system, don't forget, these moments are viewed as means: Every moral system proclaims that each moment of life ought to be motivated. Return unmotivates the moment and frees life of ends.

Georges Bataille

Life Theend System

Life is whole only when it isn't subordinate to a specific o

Life is whole only when it isn't subordinate to a specific object that exceeds it. In this way, the essence of entirety is freedom.

Georges Bataille

Life

The sovereign being is burdened with a servitude that crushe

The sovereign being is burdened with a servitude that crushes him, and the condition of free men is deliberate servility.

Georges Bataille

Slavery

At man's core there is a voice that wants him never to give

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.

Georges Bataille

Fear

To place oneself in the position of God is painful: being Go

To place oneself in the position of God is painful: being God is equivalent to being tortured. For being God means that one is in harmony with all that is, including the worst. The existence of the worst evils is unimaginable unless God willed them.

Georges Bataille

God

A judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the

A judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the one who speaks last, and the mind is at ease only at the moment when everyone is shouting at once and no one can hear a thing.

Georges Bataille

Judgment Judging

The anguish of the neurotic individual is the same as that o

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.

Georges Bataille

Mental Illness

Each of us is incomplete compared to someone else -- an anim

Each of us is incomplete compared to someone else -- an animal's incomplete compared to a person... and a person compared to God, who is complete only to be imaginary.

Georges Bataille

Duality

I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent co

I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.

Georges Bataille

Contradiction

Sacrifice is nothing other than the production of sacred thi

Sacrifice is nothing other than the production of sacred things.

Georges Bataille

Sacrifice

Pleasure only starts once the worm has got into the fruit, t

Pleasure only starts once the worm has got into the fruit, to become delightful happiness must be tainted with poison.

Georges Bataille

Pleasure

Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species

Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species alone, but it is above all the secret aspect, impenetrable and hidden. Crime hides, and by far the most terrifying things are those which elude us.

Georges Bataille

Crime

Sanity is the lot of those who are most obtuse, for lucidity

Sanity is the lot of those who are most obtuse, for lucidity destroys one's equilibrium: it is unhealthy to honestly endure the labors of the mind which incessantly contradict what they have just established.

Georges Bataille

Sanity

Life has always taken place in a tumult without apparent coh

Life has always taken place in a tumult without apparent cohesion, but it only finds its grandeur and its reality in ecstasy and in ecstatic love.

Georges Bataille

Passion

Naturally, love's the most distant possibility.

Naturally, love's the most distant possibility.

Georges Bataille

Love

The essence of morality is a questioning about morality; and

The essence of morality is a questioning about morality; and the decisive move of human life is to use ceaselessly all light to look for the origin of the opposition between good and evil.

Georges Bataille

Morals

Eroticism is assenting to life even in death.

Eroticism is assenting to life even in death.

Georges Bataille

Sex

Intellectual despair results in neither weakness nor dreams,

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.

Georges Bataille

Dreams