The Philosopher of Failure: Emil Cioran’s Heights of Despair

Failure, then, was Cioran’s close companion, loyal muse, chief inspiration. He looks at the world — at people, events, and situations — through its unflinching eyes. He can measure, for example, the depth of someone’s inner life by the way they approach failure: “This is how we recognize the man who has tendencies toward an inner quest: he will set failure above any success.” How so? Because failure, Cioran thinks, “always essential, reveals us to ourselves, permits us to see ourselves as God sees us, whereas success distances us from what is most inward in ourselves and indeed in everything.”