If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
He loves me, he doesn't love my bowels, if they showed him my appendix in a glass he wouldn't recognize it, he's always feeling me, but if they put the glass in his hands he wouldn't touch it, he wouldn't think, "that's hers," you ought to love all of somebody, the esophagus, the liver, the intestines. Maybe we don't love them because we aren't used to them, but if we saw them the way we saw our hands and arms maybe we'd love them; the starfish must love each other better than we do.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True love encompasses acceptance of all aspects of a person, not just the visible ones.
This quote by Jean-Paul Sartre emphasizes the need for unconditional love that includes all parts of a person, both physical and emotional. It suggests that we often overlook the less glamorous aspects of ourselves and others, but true affection should embrace the entirety of a person, recognizing that all parts are integral to who they are.
Themes
LoveAcceptanceRelationshipsWholeUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of love, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of accepting all facets of a partner.
More from Jean-Paul Sartre
All quotes →All 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
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