I'll start by saying that I was a little disappointed with this. While it's full of thought-provoking aphorisms, these were almost always smothered by flowery prose. One saving grace is the length of each subsection; many are only one or two paragraphs. Surely lots of people enjoy this kind of writing, but I did not. To be fair, it did seem to get better towards the end (Faces of Decadence onward IMO). I found most of this to be incredibly difficult to get through for what felt like needless obfuscation. I'm more than willing to admit that maybe I was just filtered (again), but it felt like this written in such a way as to be intentionally obtuse.

What do you get when you mix Diogenes, Heraclitus, Lao zi, the Buddha and La Rochefoucauld in a small piece of coal and crushes it under an infitiny of existential despair and cosmic horror?

Cioran constantly mentions what a romantic, idealistic young man he was - though in "In the Heights of Despair" he seems as nihilistic as always - and how now he has matured, abandoning every trace of active philosophy, abandoning movement and hope. And it's true, he does reads like a mature adult and not a rebellious teenager anymore. But then again, he was only 22 when he wrote In the Heights of Despair, and any sin of style and exaggeration can be forgiven due to his young age. As he aged, Cioran understood the importance of conciseness and to pick his words carefully.

(But then again, isn't writing still a small sign of hope?)

ما كل هذا التشاؤم والبؤس يا سيوران
كيف يمكن لإنسان أن يكون كاره لحياته وكل من حوله بهذا الشكل ?

Not recommended to read the entire text in a day. Alert: too much decadence and nihilism. But one essay a day will probably keep the doctor away. Worth reading.

Yarıda bıraktığım ikinci ya da üçüncü kitaptır. Çeviriden kaynaklı olduğunu düşündüğüm bir sıkıcılık ve anlaşılmazlık hakimdi kitaba. Heyecanla başlamıştım lakin çok çabalamama, defalarca yeniden başlamama rağmen okumaya devam edemedim.

If you think you hate life, or maybe just the world around you this book will make you kick yourself repeatedly for being just too much of a goddamn optimist. This is one bleak and beautiful book. How Cioran could live with thoughts like these and not end his own life is beyond me, but like a character out of Beckett he continues going on. This is the second book of his that I've read and it's even darker than his more youthful and lighthearted Tears and Saints which was really not the kind of book the average person would call uplifting.

Kısacık bölümler yüzlerce sayfalık kitapta olmayacak anlam ve derinlikle yüklü. Nietzche'nin nihilizmine de, Camus'nün "inadına yaşam" felsefesine de bakış açımı çok farklı boyutlara taşıdı ve şuan için favori yazarım oldu.

This guy is best aphorist since Nietzsche, though that isn't saying much since there's not a lot of competition. One of the most misanthropic books I've ever read. I hear his others are more of the same. I'm psyched.

One of the best books I have read recently, written with such grotesque honesty and unforgiving nihilism, to which there is no need to subscribe, in order to appreciate the lyrical value of the text.

Cioran is pretty much Nietzsche on steroids, and off anti-depressants.

"In Time's sentence men take their place like commas, while, in order to end it, you have immobilized yourself into a period."

Avrupa diye bir yer olmasaydı bile bu kitap bana Avrupa kültürünü hatırlatırdı.

Don’t read this book if you want to live. If you don’t want to live, read this book. I have been waiting a long time for what I knew would be the magical experience of reading Cioran. Looking forward to reading more about how I shouldn’t be looking forward to anything.

Bu kitapla karşılaşmamızın yanlış bir zamana rastladığına şüphem yok. Sahiplenemedim, içine giremedim, hemhal olamadım kitapla, bu da benim kusurum olsun. Belki başka zaman yeniden karşılaşırız.