Faustian Bargain Quotes

“A dreamer," scorns her mother.
"A dreamer," mourns her father.
"A dreamer," warns Estele.
Still, it does not seem such a bad word..”
― V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“A boy is born with a broken heart.”
― V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“They will not remember you, of course. But ideas are so much wilder than memories, so much faster to take root."
It will be fifty years before she realizes he is right. Ideas are wilder than memories.
And she can plant them, too.”
― V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“Psychology’s service to U.S. national security has produced a variant of what the psychiatrist Robert Lifton has called, in his study of Nazi doctors, a “Faustian bargain.” In this case, the price paid has been the American Psychological Association’s collective silence, ethical “numbing,” and, over time, historical amnesia. 3 Indeed, Lifton emphasizes that “the Nazis were not the only ones to involve doctors in evil”; in defense of this argument, he cites the Cold War “role of …American physicians and psychologists employed by the Central Intelligence Agency…for unethical medical and psychological experiments involving drugs and mind manipulation.” 4”
― Alfred W. McCoy, Torture and Impunity: The U.S. Doctrine of Coercive Interrogation

“In all those stories about people who sold their souls to the devil, I never quite understood why the devil was the bad guy, or why it was okay to screw him out of his soul. They got what they wanted: fame, money, love, whatever—though usually it turned out not to be what they really wanted or expected. Was that the devil's fault? I never thought so. Like John Wayne said, "Life's tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid.”
― James Anderson, The Never-Open Desert Diner

“A success? Selling the most valuable thing in ourselves.”
― Ljupka Cvetanova, The New Land

“Living in 21st century civilisation entails a neo-Faustian bargain. In return for your ‘soul’ (or at least your fundamental authenticity, let’s say), you will receive extensive benefits. Immortality isn’t yet available but relative affluence, a well-distracted sense of amortality and longevity are clear benefits. Freud (1908/2001) understood the bargain involved in surrendering thus, repressing the depths of our instincts and giving huge status to the superego. Society will soothe your anxieties if you smile rather than frown, and always reply ‘Fine’ to the meaningless ‘How are you?’ An occasional, darkly leaky ‘Mustn’t grumble’ may be tolerated. Endorse the status quo, have children and don’t talk about suffering and death. Absolutely avoid ‘that odd shit’ spoken by weirdos like Rust Cohle (see Chapter 4). For the superior neo-Faustian package of enhanced benefits, help to boost capitalism with entrepreneurial projects; support (indeed be part of) religion, psychotherapy, the self-help industry and the rhetoric of well-being and flourishing; distance yourself from civilisation’s discontents, especially DRs; do not get visibly ill, old or die, or be very discreet or upbeat about it when it happens. If you ever consider defecting to the DR club, you may rapidly lose all benefits.”
― Colin Feltham, Depressive Realism: Interdisciplinary perspectives

“He in my bosom with malicious zeal

For that fair image fans a raging fire;

From craving to enjoyment thus I reel,

And in enjoyment languish for desire.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part

“As everybody knows, the Faustian bargain has had a long and rich career. It is not solely an emblem of Humanist pride, it is a great western myth. To "fly among the stars" stands for the restless discontent with mere humanness and for any aspiration so lofty that to fulfill it Man is willing to barter his most precious possession.”
― Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present