The anguish of the neurotic individual is the same as that of the saint. The neurotic, the saint are engaged in the same battle. Their blood flows from similar wounds. But the first one gasps and the other one gives. – Georges Bataille
I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction. – Georges Bataille
Pleasure only starts once the worm has got into the fruit, to become delightful happiness must be tainted with poison. – Georges Bataille
To place oneself in the position of God is painful: being God is equivalent to being tortured. For being God means that one is in harmony with all that is, including the worst. The existence of the worst evils is unimaginable unless God willed them. – Georges Bataille
Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life… a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year — and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God. – Ray Stannard Baker (David Grayson)