"It is then well said that life should be, from one end to the other, only a lesson; to which, however, anyone might reply: 'For this very reason I wish I had been left in the peace of the all-sufficient nothing, where I would have had no need of lessons or of anything else'."
"If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of existence, or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden upon it in cold blood?"
"Whatever torch we kindle, and whatever space it may illuminate, our horizon will always remain encircled by the depth of night."
Life appears as a burdensome, often futile state alternating between pain and boredom. Existence can be seen as a disturbing interruption of peaceful nothingness, and the brevity of life may be its most favorable aspect. Pleasure frequently carries unavoidable pain, leaving many to suffer without compensation. The ethics of procreation are questioned, suggesting sparing future generations the burden of existence. Great minds commonly choose solitude as the lesser evil. Any illumination offered by knowledge or action remains surrounded by an encircling darkness that limits its reach.
Read at Philosophynow
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