Cioran variations VII (feat. Chinese, Shestov)

This contains the seventh set of my translations-variations [translations with changes / additions / subtractions, etc.] of Emil Cioran’s untranslated notebooks [Cahiers], covering the period January 13 1963 — April 13 1963. Sets I, II, III, IV, V and VI are linked at the bottom (paywalled). Then there is an (interpretive) translation of the beginning of The Apotheosis of Groundlessness by Lev Shestov and two (fake) translations of Chinese poems.

January 13 1963

One can only think of eternity while lying down.

History is the invention of the pathologically vertical.

My cowardice has caused me more trouble than the courage of any hero.

Pain, instead of condemning life, redeems it. And what, exactly, do the Buddhists think? That death redeems pain? Is that a joke?

My sadness: the ruins of an inner cruelty which nothing could possibly satiate.

January 26 1963

I have triumphed over all desires. And? I feel like crying —

Autobiography: a tripwire placed in the path of becoming —

It’s good spendi…