David Benatar: Quotes about life

David Benatar is South African philosopher. Explore interesting quotes on life.

David Benatar: 26 quotes4 likes

“Life's big questions are big in the sense that they are momentous. However, contrary to appearances, they are not big in the sense of being unanswerable. It is only that the answers are generally unpalatable. There is no great mystery, but there is plenty of horror.”

Source: The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (2017), Introduction, p. 7

“In a sentence: Life is bad, but so is death. Of course, life is not bad in every way. Neither is death bad in every way. However, both life and death are, in crucial respects, awful. Together, they constitute an existential vise—the wretched grip that enforces our predicament.”

Source: The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (2017), Introduction, pp. 1–2

“To procreate is thus to engage in a kind of Russian roulette, but one in which the "gun" is aimed not at oneself but instead at one's oﬀspring. You trigger a new life and thereby subject that new life to the risk of unspeakable suﬀering.”

Source: Debating Procreation: Is It Wrong To Reproduce? (2015), p. 65