This reading book by Thomas and Simone Stölzel presents a concise, thematically structured selection of Cioran's aphorisms and essays, each accompanied by brief introductions. It invites readers to make an initial acquaintance with the work and world of the Romanian aphorist, born in Transylvania in 1911 and who died in Paris in 1995, "on the heights of despair" - as one of his books is titled. "My cowardice towards life is innate. I have always dreaded every responsibility, every task - an instinctive aversion to everything that did not concern me directly. The opposite of a 'leader.' And when I often envied God as a young person, it was perhaps because God, who stood above all, seemed utterly irresponsible to me?".