If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
It's just what people do when they're getting old, when they're sick of themselves and their life; they think of money and take care of themselves.
Interpretation
As people grow older and face dissatisfaction, they often focus on material wealth and self-care.
This quote by Jean-Paul Sartre reflects on the human tendency to become introspective and materialistic as they age or face personal crises. It suggests that when individuals feel discontent with their lives, they may prioritize financial security and personal well-being over other values, revealing deeper existential concerns about identity and fulfillment.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about aging and mental health in a lecture.
If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
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.
If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.
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.
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.
Night is falling: at dusk, you must have good eyesight to be able to tell the Good Lord from the Devil.
Don't run your life by what's legal or illegal. Run your life based on what's right or wrong.
Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life.
If gold has been prized because it is the most inert element, changeless and incorruptible, water is prized for the opposite reason -- its fluidity, mobility, changeability that make it a necessity and a metaphor for life itself. To value gold over water is to value economy over ecology, that which can be locked up over that which connects all things.
It seems to me, then, that vulnerability and and self-disclosure are at the heart of what we understand about the nature of God. And the reason I believe gay and lesbian people are spiritual people is that we too have participated in vulnerability and self-disclosure, especially in the process of coming-out. When someone shares with you who they really, really are, it is a special offering. To do so when it risks rejection is a profound, holy gift.
Glorious indeed is the world of God around us, but more glorious the world of God within us.
God cannot reveal anything to us if we have not His spirit.
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