Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Sufferings of the World, originally published in Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)

The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the other.

— Arthur Schopenhauer on Suffering-focused ethics

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the other." in the context of "Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Sufferings of the World, originally published in Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Suffering-focused ethics" (S) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 26, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Arthur Schopenhauer

About Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer (22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher, most famous for his work The World as Will and Representation (1819).