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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.

— Peter Wessel Zapffe The Humorous Pessimist (1990)

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More quotes by 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?

The Humorous Pessimist (1990)

To bear children into this world is like carrying wood into a burning house.

No future triumph or metamorphosis can justify the pitiful blighting of a human being against his will.

For me, a desert island is no tragedy, neither is a deserted planet.

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.

The Last Messiah (1933)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Peter Wessel Zapffe (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.