Arrogance Quote by Oriana Fallaci
“I'll impose upon you the same arrogance that was imposed on me, and on my mother, my grandmother, my grandmother's mother: all the way back to the first human born of another human being, whether he liked it or not. Probably, if he or she had been allowed to choose, he would have been frightened and answered: No, I don't want to be born. But no one asked their opinion, and so they were born and lived and died after giving birth to another human being who was not asked to choose, and that one did likewise, for millions of years, right down to us.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: La Storia della mia vita, 1995
Human existence is imposed without consent, creating a lineage of beings born into a world they never chose.
In simple terms: We are born without choosing life.
Key Takeaway
Recognize the weight of unchosen existence.
Themes
existentialism
human rights
agency
Mood
provocative
introspective
Type
philosophical
political
When to use this quote
- personal reflection
- social activism
- ethical debate
Key Concepts
philosophical
ethical inquiry
Questions to Reflect On
- If you could choose, would you still exist?
- How does this perspective affect your view of responsibility?
A Different Perspective
Some argue that consent is irrelevant to biological birth.
![“Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this [step by step, from humans to apes to monkeys to lemurs] - leading us insensibly from the crown and summit of the animal creation down to creatures, from which there is but a step, as it seems, to the…” quote by Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f0b/thomas-huxley-1183_animal_perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us_3051.jpg)
