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Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes

Philosopher

Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher, writer, and playwright, born on June 21, 1905, and died on April 15, 1980. He is considered one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, renowned for his existentialist philosophy. Sartre's works spanned across philosophy, literature, and drama, and had a profound impact on later generations.

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All Men Existentialism Ifs Thinking Existence Philosophical Knows People World Nausea Want Existential Philosophy Doe Life Way Writing Giving Hell Humans

Famous Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes

“Still, somewhere in the depths of ourselves we all harbor an ashamed, unsatisfied melancholy that quietly awaits a funeral.”

Sadness Depression Existentialism Melancholy Funeral Existential Sartre

Book:The Reprieve

Source: The Reprieve

“Absurd, irreducible; nothing--not even a profound and secret delirium of nature--could explain [a tree root].”

Nature Secret Mystery Tree Roots Profound Absurd Existential Delirium

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“The real nature of the present revealed itself: it was what exists, all that was not present did not exist.”

Real Time Existential

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“Generally speaking there is no irreducible taste or inclination. They all represent a certain appropriative choice of being. It is up to existential psychoanalysis to compare and classify them. Ontology abandons us here; it has merely enabled us to determine the ultimate ends of human reality, its fundamental possibilities, and the value which haunts it.”

Humans Ends Reality Certain Values Choices Possibility Taste Ultimate Fundamentals Determine Compare Abandon Existential Inclination Psychoanalysis Ontology

Book:Existentialism and Human Emotions

Source: Existentialism and Human Emotions

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”

Source: Essays in Aesthetics

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

Source: The Philosophical Library Existentialism Collection: Essays in Metaphysics, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and The Philosophy of Existentialism

“I hate victims who respect their executioners.”

Hate Judging I Hate Victim Existential Fake People Respectability Executioners

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist.”

Atheism Philosophical Atheist Skepticism Existential Skeptical Skeptic Scepticism Sceptic

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“Life begins on the other side of despair.”

Life Inspirational Sides Despair Philosophical Existentialism Existential

Book:Nausea

Source: Nausea

“Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.”

Life Moments Loses Eternal Illusion Existentialism Existential Life Has No Meaning

Book:Essays in Aesthetics

Source: Essays in Aesthetics

“Every age has its own poetry; in every age the circumstances of history choose a nation, a race, a class to take up the torch by creating situations that can be expressed or transcended only through poetry.”

Philosophy Age Nations Race Situation Class Circumstances Creating Birthday Existential Torches

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“He was free, free in every way, free to behave like a fool or a machine, free to accept, free to refuse, free to equivocate; to marry, to give up the game, to drag this death weight about with him for years to come. He could do what he liked, no one had the right to advise him, there would be for him no Good or Evil unless he thought them into being.”

Way Giving Years Would Be Evil Games Accepting Fool Giving Up Machines Weight Refuse Behave Existentialism Drag Existential Advise

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“People who live in society have learnt how to see themselves, in mirrors, as they appear to their friends. I have no friends: is that why my flesh is so naked?”

People Mirrors Flesh Naked Existential No Friends I Have No Friends

Book:Nausea

Source: Nausea

“Our responsibility is much greater than we might have supposed, because it involves all mankind.”

Might Responsibility Greater Mankind Existentialism Existential

Book:The Philosophical Library Existentialism Collection: Essays in Metaphysics, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and The Philosophy of Existentialism

Source: The Philosophical Library Existentialism Collection: Essays in Metaphysics, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and The Philosophy of Existentialism

“It is not a matter of indifference whether we like oysters or clams, snails or shrimp, if only we know how to unravel the existential significance of these foods.”

Ifs Knows Matter Know How Indifference Significance Existential Oysters Snail Shrimp Clams

Book:Being and Nothingness

Source: Being and Nothingness

“In order to make myself recognized by the Other, I must risk my own life. To risk one's life, in fact, is to reveal oneself as not-bound to the objective form or to any determined existence — as not-bound to life.”

Facts Form Order My Own Existence Risk Bounds Oneself Determined Objectives Existential My Own Life

Book:Being and Nothingness

Source: Being and Nothingness

“Man is always separated from what he is by all the breadth of the being which he is not. He makes himself known to himself from the other side of the world and he looks from the horizon toward himself to recover his inner being.”

Men World Looks Sides Known Horizon Existential Breadth

Book:The Philosophy of Existentialism: Selected Essays

Source: The Philosophy of Existentialism: Selected Essays

“Imagination is not an empirical or superadded power of consciousness, it is the whole of consciousness as it realizes its freedom.”

Whole Realizing Imagination Consciousness Existential

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“In a word, man must create his own essence: it is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there, struggling there, that he gradually defines himself.”

Men World Suffering Struggle Essence Throwing Existential World Suffering

Book:The Writings of Jean-Paul Sartre

Source: The Writings of Jean-Paul Sartre

“Some men are born committed to action: they do not have a choice, they have been thrown on a path, at the end of that path, an act awaits them, their act.”

Men Has Beens Ends Action Choices Born Path Committed Thrown Existential

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“You know how much I admire Che Guevara. In fact, I believe that the man was not only an intellectual but also the most complete human being of our age: as a fighter and as a man, as a theoretician who was able to further the cause of revolution by drawing his theories from his personal experience in battle.”

Knows Men Believe Humans Facts Age Able I Believe Causes Human Beings Know How He Man Theory Revolution Battle Intellectual Drawing Admire Fighter Existential Personal Experiences

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

About the Author

Born: June 21, 1905
Died: April 15, 1980
Known for: Philosopher
Quotes: 565

Books & Sources

NauseaRelated source material

Essays in AestheticsRelated source material

Existentialism is a HumanismRelated source material

The Philosophical Library Existentialism Collection: Essays in Metaphysics, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and The Philosophy of ExistentialismRelated source material

No exit, and three other playsRelated source material

No ExitRelated source material

The Philosophy of Existentialism: Selected EssaysRelated source material

Being and NothingnessRelated source material

No Exit and Three Other PlaysRelated source material

The age of reasonRelated source material

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