If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are - that is the fact.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We are accountable for our existence and choices, even if we lack clarity about our desires.
This quote by Jean-Paul Sartre emphasizes the inherent responsibility that comes with existence. It suggests that individuals must confront the ambiguity of their desires while acknowledging that their actions and identity are shaped by their choices. The recognition of this responsibility is fundamental to understanding oneself and one's place in the world.
Themes
ResponsibilityExistenceChoiceFreedomIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal accountability and self-discovery.
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.
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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.
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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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Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.
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There must be another life, she thought, sinking back into her chair, exasperated. Not in dreams; but here and now, in this room, with living people. She felt as if she were standing on the edge of a precipice with her hair blown back; she was about to grasp something that just evaded her. There must be another life, here and now, she repeated. This is too short, too broken. We know nothing, even about ourselves.
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Reason is the cause of our falsification of the evidence of the senses. In so far as the senses show becoming, passing away, change, they do not lie.
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Racism is a physical experience.
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