quote · Legacy record
For us, then, life is a confidence trick we must run on ourselves, hoping we do not catch on to any monkey business that would leave us stripped of our defense mechanisms and standing stark naked before the silent, staring void. To end this self-deception, to free our species of the paradoxical imperative to be and not to be conscious, our backs breaking by degrees upon a wheel of lies, we must cease reproducing. Nothing less will do.
For us, then, life is a confidence trick we must run on ourselves, hoping we do not catch on to any monkey business that would leave us stripped of our defense mechanisms and standing stark naked before the silent, staring void. To end this self-deception, to free our species of the paradoxical imperative to be and not to be conscious, our backs breaking by degrees upon a wheel of lies, we must cease reproducing. Nothing less will do.
Approximate author period: c. 1953 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Thomas Ligotti
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1953 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from documented birth year 1953; activity date not established; Wikidata Q1062799, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1062799 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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- Contributor-provided quotation collection
Supplied reference C; CSV row 233280; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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