Nothingness

Nothing proceeds from nothingness, as also nothing passes away into non-existence. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Nothingness denotes the nonexistence of something or of anything specifiable, the state of nothing, the property of having nothing, or of being no thing; in nontechnical uses, "nothing" denotes things lacking importance, interest, value, relevance, or significance.

Quotes

I was in that ultimate moment of terror that is the beginning of life. It is nothing. Simple, hideous nothing. ~ Paddy Chayefsky

Nihilists are not kind;
They believe in nothing. ~ Dude De Ching

• Nothing proceeds from nothingness, as also nothing passes away into non-existence.
  • Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, IV, 4

• Nothing is wholly obvious without becoming enigmatic. Reality itself is too obvious to be true.
  • Jean Baudrillard, in The Perfect Crime (1993), as translated by Ian Michel and William Sarah (1995)

• Nothing is more real than nothing.
  • Samuel Beckett, in Malone meurt (1951), translated by Beckett as Malone Dies (1956), p. 16

• I was in that ultimate moment of terror that is the beginning of life. It is nothing. Simple, hideous nothing. The final truth of all things is that there is no final Truth. Truth is what's transitory. It's human life that is real.
  • Paddy Chayefsky, in Altered States (1980)

• Nihilists are not kind;
  They believe in nothing.
  • The Dude De Ching (2010) · A Dudeist Holy Book inspired by the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu and The Big Lebowski of Joel and Ethan Coen, Ch. 5 : Nihilists

• Why and Wherefore set out one day,
  To hunt for a wild Negation.
  They agreed to meet at a cool retreat
  On the Point of Interrogation.
  • Oliver Herford, Metaphysics, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 561

• Nothing to do but work,
  Nothing to eat but food,
  Nothing to wear but clothes,
  To keep one from going nude.
  • Ben King, in The Pessimist as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 561

• Nil actum credens, dum quid superesset agendum.
  • Believing nothing done whilst there remained anything else to be done.
  • Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Pharsalia, Book II. 657

• Nil igitur fieri de nilo posse putandum es
  Semine quando opus est rebus.
  • We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from.
  • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, Book I, line 206

• Haud igitur redit ad Nihilum res ulla, sed omnes
  Discidio redeunt in corpora materiai.
  • Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing, but all things return dissolved into their elements.
  • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, Book I. 250

• Nothing's new, and nothing's true, and nothing matters.
  • Attributed to Lady Morgan, in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 561

• Gigni
  De nihilo nihil, in nihilum nil posse reverti.
  • Nothing can be born of nothing, nothing can be resolved into nothing.
    • Persius, Satires, I, 111. 83

• Gratis anhelans, multa agendo nihil agens.
  Sibi molesta, et aliis odiosissima.
  • Out of breath to no purpose, in doing much doing nothing. A race (of busybodies) hurtful to itself and most hateful to all others.
  • Phædrus, Fables, Book II. 5. 3

• It is, no doubt, an immense advantage to have done nothing, but one should not abuse it.
  • Comte de Rivarol, Preface to Petit Almanach de nos Grands Hommes

• Nothing, thou elder brother e'en to shade.
  • John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, Poem on Nothing

• Operose nihil agunt.
  • They laboriously do nothing.
  • Seneca, De Brev, Vitæ, Book I. 13

• Where every something, being blent together
  Turns to a wild of nothing.
  • William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (late 1590s), Act III, scene 2

• A life of nothing's nothing worth,
  From that first nothing ere his birth,
  To that last nothing under earth.
  • Alfred Tennyson, Two Voices