Quotes by Rene Daumal

About Rene Daumal:

René Daumal was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer and poet, best known for his posthumously published novel Mount Analogue (1952) as well as for being an early, outspoken practitioner of 'pataphysics.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

All the means we've been given to stay alert we use to ornament our sleep. If instead of endlessly inventing new ways to make life more comfortable we'd apply our ingenuity to fabricating instruments to jog man out of his torpor!

Rene Daumal

I think I possess because I do not try to give, Trying to give, I see that I have nothing.

Rene Daumal

It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion.

Rene Daumal

Words are made for a certain exactness of thought, as tears are for a certain degree of pain. What is least distinct cannot be named; what is clearest is unutterable.

Rene Daumal

I am dead because I lack desire, I lack desire because I think I possess. I think I possess because I do not try to give. In trying to give, you see that you have nothing;Seeing that you have nothing, you try to give of yourself; Trying to give of yo...

Rene Daumal

This place has only three exits, sir: Madness, and Death.

Rene Daumal

You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer,...

Rene Daumal

It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content…it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble, and from babble to confusion.

Rene Daumal

Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are checks drawn on insufficient funds.

Rene Daumal

Each time dawn appears, the mystery is there in its entirety.

Rene Daumal

Author Bio

  • NameRene Daumal
  • DescriptionFrench poet and writer
  • BornMarch 16, 1908
  • DiedApril 21, 1944
  • CountryFrance
  • ProfessionPoet; Translator; Writer; Novelist