René Daumal

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

— Rene Daumal

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

— Rene Daumal

A knife is neither true nor false, but anyone impaled on its blade is in error.

— Rene Daumal

“I'm very much aware I can't think. I'm a poet.”

— Rene Daumal

“Art is here taken to mean knowledge realized in action.”

— René Daumal

The door to the invisible must be visible.

— Rene Daumal

Philosophy teaches how man thinks he thinks; but drinking shows how he really thinks.

— Rene Daumal

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

— René Daumal

“The man who would find his vegetal negative and unite with it would restore the integrity of the cosmos.”

— René Daumal

Words are made for a certain exactness of thought, as tears are for a certain degree of pain. What is least distinct…

— Rene Daumal

“Eternity He who binds himself to a joy Does the winged life destroy But he who kisses the joy as it flies…

— René Daumal

...the most serious thing, and the strangest, is that we are afraid to the point of panic, not so much of seeing…

— Rene Daumal

It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise…

— Rene Daumal

Man is head, chest and stomach. Each of these animals operates, more often than not, individually. I eat, I feel, I even,…

— Rene Daumal

Definition: Alpinism is the art of going through the mountains confronting the greatest dangers with the biggest of cares. What we call…

— Rene Daumal

Truth is one, but error proliferates. Man tracks it down and cuts it up into little pieces hoping to turn it into…

— Rene Daumal

When feet doesn't want to hold you, you climb with your head. Maybe it isn't the natural order of things, but isn't…

— Rene Daumal

In the mythic tradition, the Mountain is the bond between Earth and Sky. Its solitary summit reaches the sphere of eternity, and…

— Rene Daumal

Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared…

— Rene Daumal

“I am dead because I lack desire, I lack desire because I think I possess, I think I possess because I do…

— Rene Daumal

“Most of you,' he went on, 'already know how I have been able to limit the area of investigation in a first…

— René Daumal

You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this:…

— Rene Daumal

“I am dead because I have no desire, I have no desire because I think I possess, I think I possess because…

— René Daumal

I am dead because I have no desire, I have no desire because I think I possess, I think I possess because…

— Rene Daumal

“Now, in my readings and in my travels I have heard, like you, about men of a superior type, possessing the keys…

— René Daumal

“In somber mood, I re-called my whole life up to this day, and my head spun with the buzzing of a hundred…

— René Daumal