Story of the Eye Quotes

“Extreme seductiveness is at the boundary of horror”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“To others, the universe seems decent because decent people have gelded eyes. That is why they fear lewdness. They are never frightened by the crowing of a rooster or when strolling under a starry heaven. In general, people savor the "pleasures of the flesh" only on condition that they be insipid.
But as of then, no doubt existed for me: I did not care for what is known as "pleasures of the flesh" because they really are insipid; I cared only for what is classified as "dirty." On the other hand, I was not even satisfied with the usual debauchery, because the only thing it dirties is debauchery itself, while, in some way or other, anything sublime and perfectly pure is left intact by it. My kind of debauchery soils not only my body and my thoughts, but also anything I may conceive in its course, that is to say, the vast starry universe, which merely serves as a backdrop.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“We did not lack modesty—on the contrary—but something urgently drove us to defy modesty together as immodestly as possible.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“That discourse one might call the poetry of transgression is also knowledge. He who transgresses not only breaks a rule. He goes somewhere that the others are not; and he knows something the others don’t know.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“I remember that one day, when we were in a car tooling along at top speed,we crashed into a cyclist, an apparently very young and very pretty girl. Her head was almost totally ripped off by the wheels. For a long time, we were parked a few yards beyond without getting out, fully absorbed in the sight of the corpse. The horror and despair at so much bloody flesh, nauseating in part, and in part very beautiful, was fairly equivalent to our usual impression upon seeing one another.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“Our personal hallucination now developed as boundlessly as perhaps the total nightmare of human society, for instance, with earth, sky, and atmosphere.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“We pedaled rapidly, without laughing or speaking, peculiarly satisfied with our mutual presence, akin to one another in the common isolation of lewdness, weariness, and absurdity.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“To others, the universe seems decent because decent people have gelded eyes. That is why they fear lewdness. They are never frightened by the crowing of a rooster or when strolling under a starry heaven. In general, people savour the “pleasures of the flesh” only on condition that they be insipid.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“Simone was tall and lovely. She was usually very natural; there was nothing heartbreaking in her eyes or her voice. But on a sensual level, she so bluntly craved any upheaval that the faintest call from the senses gave her a look directly suggestive of all things linked to deep sexuality, such as blood, suffocation, sudden terror, crime; things indefinitely destroying human bliss and honesty.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“we did not lack modesty—on the contrary—but something urgently drove us to defy modesty as immodestly as possible.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“As for the fact that Simone dared to piss on the corpse, whether in boredom or, at worst, in irritation: it mainly goes to prove how impossible it was for us to understand what was happening, and of course, it is no more understandable today than it was then. Simone, being truly incapable of conceiving death such as one normally considers it, was frightened and furious, but in no way awestruck. Marcelle belonged to us so deeply in our isolation that we could not see her as just another corpse. Nothing about her death could be measured by a common standard, and the contradictory impulses overtaking us in this circumstance neutralized one another, leaving us blind and, as it were, very remote from anything we touched, in a world where gestures have no carrying power, like voices in a space that is absolutely soundless.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“Ο αέρας είχε πέσει λίγο, κι επειδή ξεπρόβαλε ένα κομμάτι του έναστρου ουρανού, έκανα τη σκέψη πως, μια κι ο θάνατος ήταν η μόνη διέξοδος στη στύση μου, αν η Σιμόν κι εγώ σκοτωνόμασταν, τη θέση του σύμπαντος του δικού μας προσωπικού οράματος, που εμείς δεν μπορούσαμε να τ' αντέξουμε, θα την έπαιρναν αναγκαστικά τα καθαρά άστρα που δεν έχουν καμιά σχέση με τα εξωτερικά βλέμματα και που θα πραγματοποιούσαν εν ψυχρώ, χωρίς τις καθυστερήσεις και τις υπεκφυγές των ανθρώπων, αυτό που εμένα μου φαίνεται πως είναι η κατάληξη των σεξουαλικών μου καταχρήσεων, δηλαδή μια πυράκτωση γεωμετρική (που, εκτός των άλλων, είναι και σημείο σύμπτωσης της ζωής και του θανάτου, του είναι και του μηδενός) κι απόλυτα αστραποβόλα.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“Ο αέρας είχε πέσει λίγο, κι επειδή ξεπρόβαλε ένα κομμάτι του έναστρου ουρανού, έκανα τη σκέψη πως, μια κι ο θάνατος ήταν η μόνη διέξοδος στη στύση μου, αν η Σιμόν κι εγώ σκοτωνόμασταν, τη θέση του σύμπαντος του δικού μας προσωπικού οράματος, που εμείς δεν μπορούσαμε να τ' αντέξουμε, θα την έπαιρναν αναγκαστικά τα καθαρά άστρα που δεν έχουν καμιά σχέση με τα εξωτερικά βλέμματα και που θα πραγματοποιούσαν εν ψυχρώ, χωρίς τις καθυστερήσεις και τις υπεκφυγές των ανθρώπων, αυτό που εμένα μου φαίνεται πως είναι η κατάληξη ων σεξουαλικών μου καταχρήσεων, δηλαδή μια πυράκτωση γεωμετρική (που, εκτός των άλλων, είναι και σημείο σύμπτωσης της ζωής και του θανάτου, του είναι και του μηδενός) κι απόλυτα αστραποβόλα.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“If they really thought it was the blood, they would use red wine, but since they employ only white wine, they are showing that at the bottom of their hearts they are quite aware that this is urine.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“The horror and despair at so much bloody flesh, nauseating in part, and in part very beautiful, was fairly equivalent to our usual impression upon seeing one another.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

“I fucked her for the first time, next to the corpse. It was very painful for both of us, but we were glad precisely because it was painful.”
― Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye