If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
I think that is the big danger in keeping a diary: you exaggerate everything.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Keeping a diary can lead to over-exaggerating experiences and feelings.
Jean-Paul Sartre highlights the potential pitfalls of diary-keeping, suggesting that the act of writing can distort reality by amplifying emotions and events beyond their true significance. This exaggeration can affect how one perceives their experiences and memories, ultimately altering their understanding of life.
Themes
DiaryExaggerationPerceptionMemoriesWriting
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, I quoted Sartre to emphasize the importance of objective observation in personal writing.
More from Jean-Paul Sartre
All quotes βAll I want is' - and he uttered the final words through clenched teeth and with a sort of shame - 'to retain my freedom.' I should myself have thought,' said Jacques, 'that freedom consisted in frankly confronting situations into which one had deliberately entered, and accepting all one's responsibilities. But that, no doubt, is not your view.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
A kiss without a moustache, they said then, is like an egg without salt; I will add to it: and it is like Good without Evil.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
I wanted pure love: foolishness; to love one another is to hate a common enemy: I will thus espouse your hatred. I wanted Good: nonsense; on this earth and in these times, Good and Bad are inseparable: I accept to be evil in order to become good.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Night is falling: at dusk, you must have good eyesight to be able to tell the Good Lord from the Devil.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Similar quotes
A man asked Muhammad what was the mark whereby he might know the reality of his faith. Muhammad said, 'If thou derive pleasure from the good which thou hast performed and thou be grieved for the evil which thou hast committed, thou art a true believer.' The man said. 'In what doth a fault really consist' Muhammad said, 'when action pricketh thy conscience, forsake it.'
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It was behaviour that I thought not far from racism, sexism or any other kind of prejudice or snobbery. 'Because you are not cute, I do not want to know you' was, to me, hardly different from suggesting 'because you are gay, I dislike you
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The wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He is in front of it.
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Familiarity confounds all traits of distinction; interest and prejudice take away the power of judging.
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To reflect upon the event horizon is a great deal more awe-inspiring than a burning bush or a wooden statue that weeps or pees or bleeds.
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