from: Giacomo Leopardi

Man (like the other animals) is not born to enjoy life, but only to perpetuate life, to communicate it to others who come after, to conserve it. Neither he himself, nor life, nor any object of this world is actually made for him, but on the contrary, he exists completely for life. terrifying, but a true proposition and the final word of all metaphysics. Existence is not for the existing - even if it offers some good, that is pure chance. That which exists does so for the sake of existence; this is its real, manifest end. Existing things exist because they do; an existing individual is born and exists because one continues to exist, and existence conserves itself in him and after him. This all becomes clear when we recognize that the pure, true end of nature is the conservation of the species and not the conservation or felicity of individuals, a felicity which does not really exist in the world, either for individuals or the species. From this one must necessarily arrive at last to the general, summary, supreme, and terrible conclusion above mentioned. (Bologna, March 11, 1826)