Thomas Nagel Quotes

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

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.

Everything in the world is gloriously meaningless.

I shall go on shining as a brilliantly meaningless figure in a meaningless world.

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

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

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.

"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."

Futility has become a great subject, full of opportunities.

Futility is the defining characteristic of life.

The point is there ain't no point.

Nothing matters. Nothing matters.

There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,--when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation.

HAMM: We're not beginning to... to... mean something? CLOV: Mean something! You and I, mean something! (Brief laugh.) Ah that's a good one!

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Life has become the ideology of its own absence.

I believe that we are all, openly or secretly, struggling against one or another kind of nihilism.

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