Jacques Ellul Quotes

The reason for the sadness of this modern age and the men who live in it is that it looks for the truth in everything and finds it.

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

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.

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

Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.

Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.

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.

Not to be onto something is to be in despair.

What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!

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.

Life may be not only meaningless but absurd.

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.

We live in a vacuous world, yet we do so with a feeling of urgency.

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.

The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.

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

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

In our large cities, the population is godless, materialized,--no bond, no fellow-feeling, no enthusiasm. These are not men, but hungers, thirsts, fevers, and appetites walking. How is it people manage to live on,--so aimless as they are? After their peppercorn aims are gained, it seems as if the lime in their bones alone held them together, and not any worthy purpose.

Although it is a gloomy view to suppose that life will die out, sometimes when I contemplate the things that people do with their lives I think it is almost a consolation

Nothing makes sense, why should I?

Futility is the defining characteristic of life.