Montaigne, a sage, has had no posterity. Rousseau, an hysteric, still stirs nations. I like only the thinkers who have inspired no tribune of the people."

As well as insomnia, themes explored in his first work include all the joyous staples of the great pessimists: death, suffering, nothingness, nihilism, anguish, and the absurd, themes that recurred in Cioran’s later works, such as The Trouble With Being Born (1973), which was my first introduction to the philosopher’s thoughts and musings.

Archiv - "The Trouble with Being Born" ". Vienna Film Commission (in German). Vienna. 2018 . Retrieved 9 July 2021.

Eu mereu am fost adeptul convingerii că opera lui Cioran se particularizează prin subiectivismul extrem. N-am găsit la el -deşi m-am identificat, nu de puţine ori, cu dansul- nici "atâtica" obiectivism. Viziunea lui se substituie relaţiei pe care A AVUT-O cu realitatea, iar aceasta are să determine relaţiile ulterioare care, de asemenea, cuprinse de subiectivism, nu au cum să se întoarcă radical, ci -în cel mai rău caz- să se afunde în propriul abis. Particularitatea asta este ceea ce-l individualizează. N-am citit -e drept!- prea multă filosofie existenţialistă, în schimb, în maniera în care am făcut-o, n-am mai întâlnit în cazul niciunui filosof viziunea subiectivismului pur. Totul pleacă -se înţelege- de la subiectivism. Platon a văzut Republica în contextul epocii sale, Voltaire în cadrul societăţii de factură absolutistă a Franţei s-a gandit: "Io-te! Iluminism!", dar ideile lor se bazau pe un impuls general din partea intelectualităţii societăţii din care făceau parte (şi în cadrul căreia, fără doar şi poate, erau figurile proeminente). A writer has left his mark on us not because we have read him a great deal but because we have thought of him more than is warranted. I have not frequented Baudelaire or Pascal particularly, but I have not stopped thinking of their miseries, which have accompanied me everywhere as faithfully as my own. I feel entitled to interpret and respond to Cioran’s aphoristic mode with some of the same chiastic development (even if not nearly as witty): These collections of aphorisms, quite blatantly despairing through the existence of man and his quest of importance and meaning, explains the dread of it all, perhaps pointing towards an existence of non-existence, by just being. Truthfully, Cioran is dour and despairing in much of his writing, which is what you might expect from someone extolling antinatalism, the view that procreation is wrong, based on the serious harm that follows coming into existence (the gist of which is of course expressed by the book title The Trouble With Being Born). But moroseness and poignancy are just one aspect of Cioran’s aphorisms. There is also solace, compassion, wisdom, realism, and soul-baring honesty in his words, as well as a concern for the more mystical and spiritual aspects of life. Like Schopenhauer, Cioran defends the value of living an ascetic sort of life.All these nations were great, because they had great prejudices. They no longer have. Are they nations still? Scattered crowds, at best.