Quotes by Jean-Paul Sartre

About Jean-Paul Sartre:

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and phenomenology, and one of the leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.

Jean-Paul Sartre

There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.

Jean-Paul Sartre

There is no reality except in action. Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Il n'y a de réalité que dans l'action. (There is no reality except in action.)

Jean-Paul Sartre

Atheistic existentialism, of which I am a representative, declares with greater consistency that if God does not exist there is at least one being whose existence comes before its essence, a being which exists before it can be defined by any concepti...

Jean-Paul Sartre

What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world-and defines himself afterward.

Jean-Paul Sartre

L'existentialiste, au contraire, pense qu'il est très gênant que Dieu n'existe pas, car avec lui disparaît toute possibilité de trouver des valeurs dans un ciel intelligible; il ne peut plus y avoir de bien a priori, puisqu'il n'y a pas de consci...

Jean-Paul Sartre

In life man commits himself and draws his own portrait, outside of which there is nothing. No doubt this thought may seem harsh to someone who has not made a success of his life. But on the other hand, it helps people to understand that reality alone...

Jean-Paul Sartre

What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at firs...

Jean-Paul Sartre

The existentialist, on the contrary, finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven. There can no longer be any good a priori, since there is no infin...

Jean-Paul Sartre

We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own. Obviously, freedom as the...

Jean-Paul Sartre

For many have but one resource to sustain them in their misery, and that is to think, “Circumstances have been against me, I was worthy to be something much better than I have been. I admit I have never had a great love or a great friendship; but t...

Jean-Paul Sartre

emotion is first of all and in principle an accident

Jean-Paul Sartre

I am not your king, impudent larva? Who then has created you? You. But you should not have created me free.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Be quiet! Anyone can spit in my face, and call me a criminal and a prostitute. But no one has the right to judge my remorse.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being - like a worm.

Jean-Paul Sartre

I exist, that is all, and I find it nauseating.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Thus it amounts to the same thing whether one gets drunk alone or is a leader of nations.

Jean-Paul Sartre

It is therefore senseless to think of complaining since nothing foreign has decided what we feel, what we live, or what we are.

Jean-Paul Sartre

What then did you expect when you unbound the gag that muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when those heads that our fathers had forcibly bowed down to the ground were raised again, you would find adoratio...

Jean-Paul Sartre

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.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Author Bio

  • NameJean-Paul Sartre
  • DescriptionFrench existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic
  • AliasesJean-Paul Sartre; Jean Paul Sartre
  • BornJune 21, 1905
  • DiedApril 15, 1980
  • CountryFrance
  • ProfessionPlaywright; Philosopher; Writer; Novelist; Screenwriter; Political Activist; Biographer; Literary Critic; Autobiographer
  • AwardsNobel Prize In Literature