18+ Peter Wessel Zapffe Quotes On War, Religion And Education

Peter Wessel Zapffe was a Norwegian metaphysician, philosopher, and cultural critic. He is best known for his essay The Last Messiah, in which he argued that the human condition is one of tragedy, and that the only way to cope with this tragedy is through a conscious self-limitation of human desires and ambitions. He was a proponent of a philosophy he called "the tragic worldview", which emphasized the need to accept the limitations of life and the inevitability of death. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Peter Wessel Zapffe on war, religion, education.

We come from an inconceivable nothingness. We stay a while in something which seems equally inconceivable, only to vanish again into the inconceivable nothingness. — 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. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

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

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? — Peter Wessel Zapffe

To bear children into this world is like carrying wood to a burning house. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

The more a human being in his worldview approaches the goal, the hegemony of love in a moral universe, the more has he become slipshod in the light of intellectual honesty. — 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. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

If one regards life and death as natural processes, the metaphysical dread vanishes, and one obtains peace of mind. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

Man beholds the earth, and it is breathing like a great lung; whenever it exhales, delightful life swarms from all its pores and reaches out toward the sun, but when it inhales, a moan of rupture passes through the multitude, and corpses whip the ground like bouts of hail. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

The immediate facts are what we must relate to. Darkness and light, beginning and end. — 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. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

For me, a desert island is no tragedy, neither is a deserted planet. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

Why does man need a meaning to life? — Peter Wessel Zapffe

As long as humankind recklessly proceeds in the fateful delusion of being biologically fated for triumph, nothing essential will change. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

Know yourselves- be infertile and let the earth be silent after ye. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

Jesus must have been a psychopath — Peter Wessel Zapffe

A coin is turned around before it is handed to the beggar, yet a child is unflinchingly tossed into cosmic bruteness. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

Mankind ought to end its existence of its own will. — Peter Wessel Zapffe

Life Lessons by Peter Wessel Zapffe

1. Peter Wessel Zapffe's work emphasizes the importance of accepting the tragic nature of life and understanding the limits of our own existential power.
2. He encourages us to recognize our own insignificance and embrace a more humble attitude towards life.
3. Zapffe's philosophy encourages us to be mindful of our mortality and to appreciate the beauty of life despite its inherent suffering and limitations.