Peter Wessel Zapffe quotes

Peter Wessel Zapffe was a Norwegian philosopher, author, and mountaineer, renowned for his work on existentialism and pessimism. His writings explored the limitations of human consciousness and the tragic aspects of existence. He remains influential in discussions on the human condition and philosophical pessimism. Here are 15 of his quotes:

Man is a tragic animal. Not because of his smallness, but because he is too well endowed. Man has longings and spiritual demands that reality cannot fulfill. We have expectations of a just and moral world. Man requires meaning in a meaningless world. (Peter Wessel Zapffe)
In accordance with my conception of life, I have chosen not to bring children into the world. A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung out into the cosmic brutality without hesitation. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
When a human being takes his life in depression, this is a natural death of spiritual causes. The modern barbarity of 'saving' the suicidal is based on a hair-raising misapprehension of the nature of existence. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
The immediate facts are what we must relate to. Darkness and light, beginning and end. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
The seed of a metaphysical or religious defeat is in us all. For the honest questioner, however, who doesn't seek refuge in some faith or fantasy, there will never be an answer. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
We come from an inconceivable nothingness. We stay a while in something which seems equally inconceivable, only to vanish again into the inconceivable nothingness. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
If one regards life and death as natural processes, the metaphysical dread vanishes, and one obtains "peace of mind." View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
Mankind ought to end its existence of its own will. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
Each new generation asks – What is the meaning of life? A more fertile way of putting the question would be – Why does man need a meaning to life? View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
To bear children into this world is like carrying wood into a burning house. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
Nobody has ever managed to explain what it is they are longing after in religion, but it is quite clear what they are trying to escape from – this earthly vale of tears, one's untenable existential situation. (Peter Wessel Zapffe)
Why, then, has mankind not long ago gone extinct during great epidemics of madness? Why do only a fairly minor number of individuals perish because they fail to endure the strain of living - because cognition gives them more than they can carry? Cultural history, as well as observation of ourselves and others, allow the following answer: Most people learn to save themselves by artificially limiting the content of consciousness. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
I myself am no longer very much afflicted by the thought of my own death. The synthesis, Peter Wessel Zapffe, did not originate until 1899. It was spared from immediate participation in the horrors of the previous years, and it will not miss what awaits mankind at the end of its vertiginous madness. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
Death is the most certain and the most uncertain event there is. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe
Death is a terrible provocation. It appears almost everywhere, presenting a stern but effective scale for both values and ethical standards. View quote
Peter Wessel Zapffe