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End of time Quote by Eugène Ionesco

“Nothing is mightier than our why, nothing stands above it, because in the end there is a why to which no answer is possible. In fact, from why to why, from one step to the next, you get to the end of things. And it is only by travelling from one why to the next, as far as the why that is…” quote by Eugène Ionesco
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““Nothing is mightier than our why, nothing stands above it, because in the end there is a why to which no answer is possible. In fact, from why to why, from one step to the next, you get to the end of things. And it is only by travelling from one why to the next, as far as the why that is unanswerable, that man attains the level of the creative principle, facing the infinite, equal to the infinite maybe. So long as he can answer the why he gets lost, he loses his way among things. 'Why this?' I answer, 'because that," and from one explanation to the next I reach the point where no explanation is satisfying, from one explanation to the next I reach zero, the absolute, where truth and falsehood are equivalent, become equal to one another, are identified with one another, cancel each other out in face of the absolute nothing. And so we can understand how all action, all choice, all history is justified, at the end of time, by a final cancelling-out. The why goes beyond everything. Nothing goes beyond the why, not even the nothing, because the nothing is not the explanation; when silence confronts us, the question to which there is no answer rings out in the silence. That ultimate why, that great why is like a light that blots out everything, but a blinding light; nothing more can be made out, there is nothing more to make out.””

Eugène Ionesco

About This Quote

Source Play: The Bald Soprano (translation), 1950

Seeking ultimate purpose leads to confronting unanswerable questions, revealing the limits of rational explanation.

In simple terms: Searching for meaning hits unknowable truth.

Key Takeaway

Embrace mystery beyond answers.

Themes

existence meaning philosophy

Mood

thoughtful introspective

Type

philosophical poetic

When to use this quote

  • personal crisis
  • creative writing
  • spiritual contemplation
  • scientific inquiry

Key Concepts

absurdism existentialism infinity

Questions to Reflect On

  • What lies beyond the final answer?
  • How do you handle unanswerable questions?
A Different Perspective

Overemphasis on rationality can stall progress.

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