---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yet if there's no reason to live without…"
description: "\"Yet if there's no reason to live without a child, how could there be with one? To answer one life with a successive life is simply to transfer the onus..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2b/lionel-shriver-744_aimlessness_yet-if-there-s-no-reason-to-live-without_2985827.jpg"
---

#  Yet if there's no reason to live without a child, how…

![“Yet if there's no reason to live without a child, how could there be with one? To answer one life with a successive life is simply to transfer the onus of purpose to the next generation; the displacements amounts to a cowardly and potentially infinite delay. Your children's answer, presumably…” quote by Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2b/lionel-shriver-744_aimlessness_yet-if-there-s-no-reason-to-live-without_2985827.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2b/lionel-shriver-744_aimlessness_yet-if-there-s-no-reason-to-live-without_2985827.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2b/lionel-shriver-744_aimlessness_yet-if-there-s-no-reason-to-live-without_2985827.jpg)

> “Yet if there's no reason to live without a child, how could there be with one? To answer one life with a successive life is simply to transfer the onus of purpose to the next generation; the displacements amounts to a cowardly and potentially infinite delay. Your children's answer, presumably, will be to procreate as well, and in doing so to distract themselves, to foist their own aimlessness onto their offspring.”

[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The quote argues that having children merely shifts existential purpose to the next generation, creating a cycle of avoidance and delayed responsibility.

**In simple terms:** Having kids just passes purpose to the next generation, leading to avoidance.

Key Takeaway

Recognize purpose beyond procreation.

Themes

existentialism parenthood responsibility

Mood

thoughtful critical

Type

philosophical ethical

When to use this quote

- family planning
- philosophical counseling
- legacy building
- ethical debates

Key Concepts

intergenerational purpose meaning avoidance

Questions to Reflect On

- What gives your life meaning beyond children?
- Can purpose be found without procreation?

A Different Perspective

It overlooks the potential for genuine purpose and love in parenthood.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Aimlessness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aimlessness/) [Aimlessness Offspring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aimlessness-offspring-4667075/) [Answers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/answers/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Delay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delay/) [Delay Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delay-children-4667076/) [Generations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generations/) [Infinite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infinite/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-is/) [Life Successive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-successive-2460968/) [Next](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/next/) [Next generation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/next-generation/) [Offspring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/offspring/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Reason to live](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason-to-live/) [Successive Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/successive-life-4667074/) [Transfers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transfers/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) [Your children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/your-children/)

## Related quotes

> [“Life is a successive symphony of losses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/life-is-a-successive-symphony-of-losses/)

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> [When I was in college, I remember fearing that the dreary grind of adulthood would feature infinitely more existential dread than frat parties had,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-i-was-in-college-i-remember-fearing-that-the-dreary-grind-of/)

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> [Freedom doesn't mean aimlessness. We can't just sleepwalk through life… Freedom demands structure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garrison-keillor/freedom-doesn-t-mean-aimlessness-we-can-t-just-sleepwalk-through-life/)

[Garrison Keillor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garrison-keillor/)

> [Mental tensions, frustrations, insecurity, aimlessness are among the most damaging stressors, and psychosomatic studies have shown how often they cause migraine headache, peptic ulcers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-selye/mental-tensions-frustrations-insecurity-aimlessness-are-among-the/)

[Hans Selye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-selye/)

> [“One who gossips usually carries boredom in one hand and bitterness in the other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzy-kassem/one-who-gossips-usually-carries-boredom-in-one-hand-and-bitterness-in/)

[Suzy Kassem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzy-kassem/)

> [“One foot in front of the other, more aimless than direct, Bradford left the waiting room for the outside world. Called for a taxi…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-stevens/one-foot-in-front-of-the-other-more-aimless-than-direct-bradford-left/)

[Taylor Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-stevens/)

> [The more I read, the less I admire modern theology. the more I study the productions of the new schools of theological teachers, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-c-ryle/the-more-i-read-the-less-i-admire-modern-theology-the-more-i-study/)

[J. C. Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-c-ryle/)

> [“I’m sure he doesn’t see it as aimless. We all have different goals. His are achievable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-cotterill/i-m-sure-he-doesn-t-see-it-as-aimless-we-all-have-different-goals-his/)

[Colin Cotterill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-cotterill/)

> [There is an ideal standard somewhere and only that matters and I cannot find it. Hence the aimlessness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/there-is-an-ideal-standard-somewhere-and-only-that-matters-and-i/)

[T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/)

> [“Without purpose, we're zombies aimlessly roaming the earth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ahmed-mostafa/without-purpose-we-re-zombies-aimlessly-roaming-the-earth/)

[Ahmed Mostafa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ahmed-mostafa/)

> [Rome has New York's formlessness, aimlessness, a kind of hard-boiled sophistication, blase about everything. In their filmmaking, too, the Italians have this tongue-in-cheek sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-morrissey/rome-has-new-york-s-formlessness-aimlessness-a-kind-of-hard-boiled/)

[Paul Morrissey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-morrissey/)

> [“Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-allen/aimlessness-is-a-vice-and-such-drifting-must-not-continue-for-him-who/)

[James Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-allen/)

> [We need sometimes to escape into open solitudes, into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard in order to sharpen the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/we-need-sometimes-to-escape-into-open-solitudes-into-aimlessness-into/)

[George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/)

## More by Lionel Shriver

> [The discovery that heartbreak is indeed heartbreaking consoles us about our humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/the-discovery-that-heartbreak-is-indeed-heartbreaking-consoles-us/)

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> [“I’m a journalist, and journalists need news. Deprive them of it, and they go a bit barking. Deprive them of news long enough, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/i-m-a-journalist-and-journalists-need-news-deprive-them-of-it-and/)

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[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

> [In the particular dwells the tawdry. In the conceptual dwells the grand, the transcendent, the everlasting. Earthly countries and single malignant boys can go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/in-the-particular-dwells-the-tawdry-in-the-conceptual-dwells-the/)

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[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

> [Oddly, for a book to do well merely because people like it is surprisingly rare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/oddly-for-a-book-to-do-well-merely-because-people-like-it-is/)

[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

> [“And there's a freedom in apathy, a wild, dizzying liberation on which you can almost get drunk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/and-there-s-a-freedom-in-apathy-a-wild-dizzying-liberation-on-which/)

[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

> [The sign that I don't like the book I'm reading is finding myself watching reruns of 'Come Dine With Me.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/the-sign-that-i-don-t-like-the-book-i-m-reading-is-finding-myself/)

[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

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[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

[Explore all 375 Lionel Shriver quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

## More Aimlessness quotes

> [We need sometimes to escape into open solitudes, into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard in order to sharpen the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/we-need-sometimes-to-escape-into-open-solitudes-into-aimlessness-into/)

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> [“One foot in front of the other, more aimless than direct, Bradford left the waiting room for the outside world. Called for a taxi…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-stevens/one-foot-in-front-of-the-other-more-aimless-than-direct-bradford-left/)

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> [A manuscript under way always gave me something to do; only while enduring the aimlessness between books was I truly glum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/a-manuscript-under-way-always-gave-me-something-to-do-only-while/)

[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

> [Mental tensions, frustrations, insecurity, aimlessness are among the most damaging stressors, and psychosomatic studies have shown how often they cause migraine headache, peptic ulcers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-selye/mental-tensions-frustrations-insecurity-aimlessness-are-among-the/)

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[Garrison Keillor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garrison-keillor/)

> [When I was in college, I remember fearing that the dreary grind of adulthood would feature infinitely more existential dread than frat parties had,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-i-was-in-college-i-remember-fearing-that-the-dreary-grind-of/)

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> [Over time, grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimlessness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ortberg/over-time-grit-is-what-separates-fruitful-lives-from-aimlessness/)

[John Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ortberg/)

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[Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/)

[Browse all 16 Aimlessness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aimlessness/)

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