Nietzsche the Natalist
The top lesson of Catherine Pakaluk’s Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth is that almost all high-fertility Americans are highly religious.
Yet when writing, “The Average Kid is Better Than the Average Adult,” I vividly remembered the words of Friedrich Nietzsche, history’s most famous atheist. I first read Thus Spoke Zarathustra in 11th grade, and I’ve never forgotten the chapter on “The Preachers of Death.” Lo, I give you Nietzsche the natalist:
They meet an invalid, or an old man, or a corpse—and immediately they say: “Life is refuted!”
But they only are refuted, and their eye, which seeth only one aspect of existence…
“Lust is sin,”—so say some who preach death—“let us go apart and beget no children!”
“Giving birth is troublesome,”—say others—“why still give birth? One beareth only the unfortunate!” And they also are preachers of death.
Nietzsche’s short chapter also restates Epicurus’ “actions speak louder than words” challenge to everyone who dares disputes the value of life:
Their wisdom speaketh thus: “A fool, he who remaineth alive; but so far are we fools! And that is the foolishest thing in life!”
“Life is only suffering”: so say others, and lie not. Then see to it that ye cease! See to it that the life ceaseth which is only suffering!
Still it’s worth pointing out that Nietzsche died childless, while Catherine Pakaluk has eight kids…
Your quotations are less pro-natalist than they are anti-anti-natalist. His conclusion (even if it's a rhetorical one) is that complainers should kill themselves, not that anyone should have children.
> Nietzsche died childless, while Catherine Pakaluk has eight kids
For a man to have a child, it requires the consent of another person. For a woman to have a child, it requires only her own decision.