The Madness of the Day Quotes

“To see was terrifying, and to stop seeing tore me apart from my forehead to my throat.”
― Maurice Blanchot, The Madness of the Day

“But my silence is real. If I hid it from you, you would find it again a little farther on.”
― Maurice Blanchot, The Madness of the Day

“A story? No. No stories, never again.”
― Maurice Blanchot, The Madness of the Day

“As reason returned to me, memory came with it, and I saw that even on the worst days, when I thought I was utterly and completely miserable, I was nevertheless, and nearly all the time, extremely happy. That gave me something to think about. The discovery was not a pleasant one. It seemed to me that I was losing a great deal. I asked myself, wasn't I sad, hadn't I felt my life breaking up? Yes, that had been true; but each minute, when I stayed without moving in a corner of the room, the cool of the night and the stability of the ground made me breathe and rest on gladness.”
― Maurice Blanchot, The Madness of the Day

“I wanted to see something in full daylight; I was sated with the pleasure and comfort of the half light; I had the same desire for the daylight as for water and air. And if seeing was fire, I required the plenitude of fire, and if seeing would infect me with madness, I madly wanted that madness.”
― Maurice Blanchot, The Madness of the Day

“My sense of touch was floating six feet away from me; if anyone entered my room, I would cry out, but the knife was serenely cutting me up. Yes, I became a skeleton. At night my thinness would rise up before me to terrify me. As it came and went it insulted me, it tired me out; oh, I was certainly very tired.”
― Maurice Blanchot, The Madness of the Day

“They who were so important, who wanted to create the world, are dumbfounded; everything crumbles.”
― Maurice Blanchot, The Madness of the Day