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.
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
It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be left alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.
H. P. LovecraftRead
Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
As an individual who undertakes to live by borrowing, soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next no one left to borrow from - so must it be with a government.
Abraham LincolnRead
The notion of humans as inherently rational beings has been not only trashed in economics, but trashed in all the best research on moral decision-making.
Robert SapolskyRead
Evil is a violation of purpose, the purpose of your creator and mine.
Ravi ZachariasRead
Paradox - Truth standing on her head to get attention.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead