Georges Bataille Quotes on Knowledge
Georges Bataille was a French philosopher, novelist, and librarian whose work occupied a singular position at the edges of surrealism, sociology, and the history of religions. This page collects quotes attributed to Georges Bataille on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Georges Bataille:
“What we cannot grasp is the point of greatest importance.”
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“The Bataille Reader (1997), p. 340”
Extreme states of being, whether individual or collective, were once purposefully motivated. Some of those purposes no longer have meaning (expiation, salvation). The well-being of communities is no longer sought through means of doubtful effectiveness , but directly, through action. Under these conditions, extreme states of being fell into the domain of the arts, and not without a certain disadva -
“I used to shut my eyes and let it shine redly through my lids. The sun was fantastic – it evoked dreams of explosion. Was there anything more sunlike than red blood running over cobblestones, as though light could shatter and kill? Now, in this thick darkness, I’d made myself drunk with light.”
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“I can grovel at His feet if I believe He doesn’t exist.”
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“He had porcelain-blue eyes that even in a lighted railway car were lost in the clouds, as if he had personally heard the Valkyries’ summons; but no doubt his ear was more attuned to the trumpet-call of the barracks.”
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