quote · Legacy record
We must allow ourselves to think, we must dare to think, even though we fail. It is in the nature of things that we always fail, because we suddenly find it impossible to order our thoughts, because the process of thinking requires us to consider every thought there is, every possible thought. Fundamentally we have always failed, like all the others, whoever they were, even the greatest minds. At some point, they suddenly failed and their system collapsed, as is proved by their writings, which we admire because they venture farthest into failure. To think is to fail, I thought.
We must allow ourselves to think, we must dare to think, even though we fail. It is in the nature of things that we always fail, because we suddenly find it impossible to order our thoughts, because the process of thinking requires us to consider every thought there is, every possible thought. Fundamentally we have always failed, like all the others, whoever they were, even the greatest minds. At some point, they suddenly failed and their system collapsed, as is proved by their writings, which we admire because they venture farthest into failure. To think is to fail, I thought.
Approximate author period: c. 1960 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Thomas Bernhard
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1960 AD · modern
Approximate period for the recorded attribution to Thomas Bernhard, based on documented lifetime 1931 to 1989. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44336 (checked 2026-10-08). This is not a quotation composition date or independent authentication of its attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44336 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 216591; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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