Favourite anti-natalist quotes

[Deleted member 23885]

Here are some of mine. Feel free to contribute.

"I saw the tears of the oppressed—
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
and they have no comforter.
And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.
But better than both
is the one who has never been born,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun."
― Anonymous, Holy Bible: New International Version

"It is not only the ratio of pleasure to pain that determines the quality of a life, but also the sheer quantity of pain. Once a certain threshold of pain is passed, no amount of pleasure can compensate for it."
― David Benatar, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence

"Some anti-natalist positions are founded on either a dislike of children or on the interests of adults who have greater freedom and resources if they do not have and rear children. My anti-natalist view is different. It arises, not from a dislike of children, but instead from a concern to avoid the suffering of potential children and the adults they would become, even if not having those children runs counter to the interests of those who would have them."
― David Benatar, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence

 

[death137]

Here are some




There is also another but I don't know how to find it. But it was said by an ancient man who said something like if you are born then the best thing to do is to die as soon as possible.

 

[StringPuppet]

 

[esse_est_percipi]

There is also another but I don't know how to find it. But it was said by an ancient man who said something like if you are born then the best thing to do is to die as soon as possible.

It comes from greek myth, where Silenus, the wise companion of Dionysus, is supposed to have said to king Midas: "Oh, wretched ephemeral race … why do you compel me to tell you what it would be most expedient for you not to hear? What is best of all is utterly beyond your reach: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best for you is—to die soon."

Here are some
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There is also another but I don't know how to find it. But it was said by an ancient man who said something like if you are born then the best thing to do is to die as soon as possible.

those quotes by david benatar actually show a picture of peter singer for some reason.

 

[LooksAtMoonDog]

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

"Know yourselves- be infertile and let the earth be silent after ye." ~ 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

"Trees are massacred, houses go up — faces, faces everywhere. Man is spreading. Man is the cancer of the earth." ~ Emile M. Cioran

"Not to be born is undoubtedly the best plan of all. Unfortunately, it is within no one's reach." ~ Emile M. Cioran

 

[death137]

It comes from greek myth, where Silenus, the wise companion of Dionysus, is supposed to have said to king Midas: "Oh, wretched ephemeral race … why do you compel me to tell you what it would be most expedient for you not to hear? What is best of all is utterly beyond your reach: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best for you is—to die soon."

those quotes by david benatar actually show a picture of peter singer for some reason.

Thanks you. But about where the quote comes from I think I read some line saying return to where you come from. So I don't think I read what you said but at the same time I'm not sure and what I referred could be what you said.

In video

 

[esse_est_percipi]

I think I read some line saying return to where you come from. So I don't think I read what you said but at the same time I'm not sure and what I referred could be what you said.

I might be a different quote then. What you are referring to might come from a different religion or source, like maybe Hinduism or stoicism.

 

[death137]

@esse_est_percipi you are right the quote I was referring is the quote you mentioned. Thank you

 

[Sensei]

Not an explicit anti-natalist quote, but related.

"Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink." ― Shunryu Suzuki

To give birth to a child is, for the better or the worse, to put it in that boat.

 

[Mistake of Nature]

"He seriously thought that there is less harm in killing a man than producing a child: in the first case you are relieving someone of life, not his whole life but a half or a quarter or a hundredth part of that existence that is going to finish, that would finish without you; but as for the second, he would say, are you not responsible to him for all the tears he will shed, from the cradle to the grave? Without you he would never have been born, and why is he born? For your amusement, not for his, that's for sure; to carry your name, the name of a fool, I'll be bound – you may as well write that name on some wall; why do you need a man to bear the burden of three or four letters?" - Gustave Flaubert

"Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance." - Jean-Paul Sartre

"When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools." - William Shakespeare

"Antinatalism is based on the principle that suffering of whatever kind or degree should not be caused or perpetuated, and that human existence necessarily entails suffering that we can neither escape nor justify, least of all by experiencing pleasures. Thus, the only way to end all suffering would be to cease producing beings who suffer." - Thomas Ligotti

 

[puppy9]

"This crime was by my father done -To me, but never by me to one." (in regards to life and being born)"
― Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī

"And when I think my thinking rouses me to blame he who created me, And I gave peace to my children for they are in the bliss of the abyss
Which surpasses all the pleasures of the world,
And had they been born they would've endured misery"
― Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī,

This dude got balls and fucking intelligent. He's a skeptic. He was a born Muslim but he dares to criticized it when Islam was at the Golden Age. I just discovered him today while searching for anti natalist quote. He's one of my heroes now.