What is life? The journey of a sick cripple who walks, with a heavy
burden on his back, over steep mountains and places incredibly
rugged, wearisome, and difficult, in snow, ice, rain, in wind and
burning sun, without ever resting night or day for a space of many
days, only to arrive at a precipice or pit, and there inevitably fall
(Bologna, January 17, 1826).
Time is not a thing, but rather an accident of things, and
independently of the existence of things it is nothing. It is an
accident of this existence, an idea of ours, a word. Time is the
duration of things that are - just as 72000
tickings of a clock
pendulum are one hour, but that hour is an offspring of our mind
and does not exist, either in itself or as a section in time, any
more than it existed before the invention of the clock. In short,
the essence of time is nothing else than a way - for considering
that we lead an existence made up of things that are, or may
be, or can be supposed to be. The same with space. . . .
The conclusion is that time and space are essentially only ideas
or words. And those countless great debates about time and
space stirred up from the birth of metaphysics onwards by the
prime philosophers of every century are simply
word games,
born of misunderstandings, little clarity in handling ideas, and
inadequate analysis of our intellect. And that intellect itself is
the only place where time, space, and so many other
abstractions actually exist and amount to anything (
Recanati,
December 14, 1826).
Death is no evil, for it frees man from all evils and takes
away desire as well as the good things of life. Old age is the
greatest evil, for it strips man of all pleasures leaves him his
appetites, and brings with it all pains. Nonetheless, men fear
death and desire old age (VI).
The Reflections