#on pessimism

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-- Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)

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Schopenhauer’s paradox: that one lives, in spite of the fact that life is not worth living. Nietzsche’s paradox: the best one can hope for is the worst. Cioran’s paradox: existence has no meaning, and this is meaningful. Pessoa’s paradox: that everything amounts to nothing, and that this itself is something.

-- Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)

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Whatever I’m thinking seems pretentious and naive. Whatever I feel seems cliché and scripted. Whatever I see around me seems a tireless pantomime of tedious significance. Tragedy turns to farce, and life-affirming life becomes grotesque, filling me with revulsion. To be aware of all this is to experience estrangement to such a degree that it almost becomes tranquility.

Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)

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When someone casually asks me “How are you doing ?”, I sometimes find myself hesitating, as if caught in a micro-catatonia. The question is both petty and cosmic at the same time. Then I remember: just say “Fine.”

Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)

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A writer never finishes a book – they abandon it.

Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)

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The pessimist grieves for everything in general and nothing in particular.

Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)

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-- Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)

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Pessoa: “All I ask of life is that it ask nothing of me.”

Eugene Thacker, from “On Pessimism” in “Infinite Resignation” (2018)