Philip Roth Quotes

Everything is the same, nothing is worthwhile, the world is senseless, knowledge strangles.

Life may be not only meaningless but absurd.

We don't understand why we're here, no one's giving us an answer, religion is vague, your parents can't help because they're just people, and it's all terrible, and there's no meaning to anything.

Famously, there's not really anywhere to go after nihilism. It's not progressing toward anything, it's a statement of outrage, however brilliant.

When people conclude that all is futile, then the absurd becomes the norm.

Life is tragic and absurd, and none of it has any purpose at all.

My search not only failed, but I convinced myself that all those who had searched like myself had failed also, and come like me to the despairing conviction that the only absolute knowledge man can possess is this—that life is without a meaning.

I searched all areas of knowledge, and not only did I fail to find anything, but I was convinced that all those who had explored as I did had also come up with nothing. Not only had they found nothing, but they had clearly acknowledged the same thing that had brought me to despair: the only absolute knowledge attainable by man is that life is meaningless.

"Tell me, Tool, what dominates your thoughts?" The Imass shrugged before replying. "I think of futility, Adjunct." "Do all Imass think about futility?" "No. Few think at all." "Why is that?" The Imass leaned his head to one side and regarded her. "Because, Adjunct, it is futile."

Nothing makes sense, why should I?

Futility is the defining characteristic of life.

Everything in the world is gloriously meaningless.

This absurd, godless world is, then, peopled with men who think clearly and have ceased to hope. And I have not yet spoken of the most absurd character, who is the creator.

Sometimes the world seems like a big hole. You spend all your life shouting down it and all you hear are echoes of some idiot yelling nonsense down a hole.

The joke of our time is the suicide of intention.

Since all life is futility, then the decision to exist must be the most irrational of all.

I think you can get to a point where nihilism, if that's the right word, is overwhelming, and the basic laws that society has set up - either religious or social laws - become meaningless.

In sum, thought and reflection have been rendered thoroughly pointless by the circumstances in which modern men and women live and act.

Have all the hopes of ages come to naught? Is life no more with noble meaning fraught?

At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face.

It's really easy to slide into a depression fueled by the pointlessness of existence.

Maybe the universe will get tired of me.

Why does a person even get up in the morning? You have breakfast, you floss your teeth so you'll have healthy gums in your old age, and then you get in your car and drive down I-10 and die. Life is so stupid I can't stand it.

It was over now, and the meaningless world was tolerable and need not be explained. And never would it be, and how foolish I had ever been to think so.

Meaninglessness takes hold because meaninglessness is addictive.