Note 40 — FREDERIC THE GREAT’S EULOGY ON JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE. (continued 2)
Gertrude Carman Bussey translation
Furthermore, who can be sure that the reason for man’s existence is not simply the fact that he exists?40 Perhaps he was thrown by chance on some spot on the earth’s surface, nobody knows how nor why, but simply that he must live and die, like the mushrooms which appear from day to day, or like those flowers which border the ditches and cover the walls.