November 2024
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    Think like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Cioran – pithy aphorisms and epigrams

    by SweggyGEK17

    4 Comments

    1. Ayyyyy you just mentioned some of my favorite authors. I have more than a few to suggest, but it kind of depends on what particular aspect you’re looking for;

      If you’re looking for more aphoristic works, you could look at the note-based books of Elias Canetti, specifically *The Human Province* and *The Agony of Flies*. There’s lots of aphorisms and observations of varying lengths, and much of it came about as he was writing his much more comprehensive *Crowds and Power* (not very related to what you were mentioning, but worth looking into if you’re seeking more pessimistic books on humanity). You might also look into Theodor Adorno’s *Minima Moralia*, which takes a lot of inspiration from Nietzsche’s *Gay Science*, in that it’s entirely made up of aphorisms, though many are of the longer variety and deal with cultural criticism. Walter Benjamin’s *One-Way Street* also fits in this vein.

      If you’re looking for more pessimistic works (of the fragmented variety), then Eugene Thacker’s *Infinite Resignation* would be a great meditation on such, since the first portion is entirely made up of aphorisms on pessimism. Thacker’s work is heavily influenced by Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Cioran, and much of the book seems like a homage to that philosophy as a whole.

      Finally, if you’re looking for more compact aphorisms, I’d definitely recommend the classics if you haven’t looked at them yet; Rochefoucauld’s *Maximes,* Lichtenberg’s “scrapbooks”, Pascal’s *Pensees,* and maybe even surrealist works by writers like Schwob or Lautreamont (which do go into poetry territory at points but almost fit the vibe of Cioran, at points).

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