"In the resumé of the first stage of the illusion we saw that peoples in a state of nature are not more wretched, but more happy, than civilised peoples; that the poor, low, and rude classes are happier than the rich, aristocratic, and cultivated; that the stupid are happier than the clever; in general, that a being is the happier the obtuser is its nervous system, because the excess of pain over pleasure is so much less, and the entanglement in the illusion so much greater. But now with the progressive development of humanity grow not only wealth and wants, but also the sensibility of the nervous system and the capacity and education of the mind, consequently also the excess of felt pain over felt pleasure and the destruction of illusion, i.e., the consciousness of the paltriness of life, of the vanity of most enjoyments and endeavours and the feeling of misery; there grows accordingly both misery and also the consciousness of misery, as experience shows, and the often-asserted enhancement of the happiness of the world by the progress of the world rests on an altogether superficial appearance. (This is especially to be laid to heart by those who perhaps are not quite in accord with me, that at the present time the sum of pain in the world outweighs the sum of pleasure.)"