The Most Magnificent Quotes by Jean-Paul Sartre

Last updated on Jul 2nd, 2024

The Most Magnificent Quotes by Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (born June 21, 1905, Paris, France – died April 15, 1980, Paris), known as Jean-Paul Sartre, was a French philosopher, writer, and literary critic.

During his life, Sartre published several exceptional works. Most significant are “Being and Nothingness” (L’Être et le Néant, 1943) and “Existentialism is a Humanism” (L’existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946).

Key Takeaways

  • He was the proponent of existentialism and phenomenology and one of the leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy.
  • His work has influenced many disciplines, such as sociology and critical theory. He had a lifelong relationship with Simone de Beauvoir.
  • Sartre declined the Nobel Prize for Literature previously awarded to him in 1964, saying that “a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution.”
Hell is - other people! - Jean-Paul Sartre (No Exit Quotes)
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Hell is – other people!No Exit (1944), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1952), Page 61

When the rich fight the rich, it is the poor who die. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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When the rich fight the rich, it is the poor who die.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act I, Scene I, Page 11

Man is condemned to be free: condemned, because he did not create himself, yet nonetheless free, because once cast into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism is a Humanism Quotes)
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Man is condemned to be free: condemned, because he did not create himself, yet nonetheless free, because once cast into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.Existentialism is a Humanism (1946), (Yale University Press, ed. 2007), Page 29

Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea Quotes)
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Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.Nausea (1938), (New Directions, ed. 1964), Page 14

Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Dirty Hands Quotes)
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Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.Dirty Hands (1948), (Vintage Books, ed. 1955), Act V, Page 214

Freedom is not what you do gratuitously. It is what you do with what's been done to you. - Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes
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Freedom is not what you do gratuitously. It is what you do with what’s been done to you.Jean-Paul Sartre: Hated Conscience of His Century by John Gerassi (1989), Page 47

Human life begins on the far side of despair. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Flies Quotes)
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Human life begins on the far side of despair.The Flies (1943), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1952), Act III, Page 160

A man is what he wills himself to be. - Jean-Paul Sartre (No Exit Quotes)
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A man is what he wills himself to be.No Exit (1944), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1952), Page 58

There are two kinds of poor - those who are poor in company and those who are poor alone. The first are the real poor, the others are the rich who've been unlucky. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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There are two kinds of poor – those who are poor in company and those who are poor alone. The first are the real poor, the others are the rich who’ve been unlucky.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act II, Scene IV, Page 72

The best work is not the work that takes the most sacrifices. It's the work in which you can best succeed. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Dirty Hands Quotes)
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The best work is not the work that takes the most sacrifices. It’s the work in which you can best succeed.Dirty Hands (1948), (Vintage Books, ed. 1955), Act VI, Page 235

For those who want 'to change life, 'to reinvent love,' God is nothing but a hindrance. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr Quotes)
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For those who want ‘to change life, ‘to reinvent love,’ God is nothing but a hindrance.Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952), (George Braziller, ed. 1963), Book IV, Page 464

The worthy poor do not realize that their function is to exercise our generosity. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Words Quotes)
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The worthy poor do not realize that their function is to exercise our generosity.The Words (1964), (George Braziller, ed. 1964), Part 1, Page 33

Your Holy Church is a strumpet; she sells her favors to the rich. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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Your Holy Church is a strumpet; she sells her favors to the rich.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act I, Scene I, Page 18

Words are "loaded pistols." - Jean-Paul Sartre (What Is Literature? Quotes)
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Words are “loaded pistols.”What Is Literature? (1947), (Philosophical Library, ed. 1949), Chapter I, Page 24

When we say that man is responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism is a Humanism Quotes)
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When we say that man is responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men.Existentialism is a Humanism (1946), (Yale University Press, ed. 2007), Page 23

Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea Quotes)
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Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.Nausea (1938), (New Directions, ed. 1964), Page 133

To know what life is worth you have to risk it once in a while. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Dirty Hands Quotes)
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To know what life is worth you have to risk it once in a while.Dirty Hands (1948), (Vintage Books, ed. 1955), Act VI, Page 236

A victory described in detail is indistinguishable from a defeat. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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A victory described in detail is indistinguishable from a defeat.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act I, Scene I, Page 4

And so you should be, darling. Terribly frightened. That's how one grows up into a decent, god-fearing man. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Flies Quotes)
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And so you should be, darling. Terribly frightened. That’s how one grows up into a decent, god-fearing man.The Flies (1943), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1952), Act II, Scene I, Page 97

Like all dreamers, I confused disenchantment with truth. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Words Quotes)
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Like all dreamers, I confused disenchantment with truth.The Words (1964), (George Braziller, ed. 1964), Part 2, Page 159

Fascism is not defined by the number of its victims, but by the way it kills them. - Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes
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Fascism is not defined by the number of its victims, but by the way it kills them.On the Execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, in Libération (June 22, 1953)

I hate victims who respect their executioners. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Condemned of Altona Quotes)
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I hate victims who respect their executioners.The Condemned of Altona (1960), (Vintage Books, ed. 1961), Act I, Page 5

As for men, it's not what they are that interests me, but what they can become. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Dirty Hands Quotes)
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As for men, it’s not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.Dirty Hands (1948), (Vintage Books, ed. 1955), Act V, Page 225

I recognize but one Church: the community of men. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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I recognize but one Church: the community of men.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act I, Scene I, Page 20

People who live in society have learned how to see themselves in mirrors as they appear to their friends. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea Quotes)
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People who live in society have learned how to see themselves in mirrors as they appear to their friends.Nausea (1938), (New Directions, ed. 1964), Page 18

Man is not the sum of what he has, but the totality of what he does not yet have, of what he might have. - Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes
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Man is not the sum of what he has, but the totality of what he does not yet have, of what he might have.Literary Essays (Philosophical Library, ed. 1957), Chapter VI, Page 86

One is still what one is going to cease to be and already what one is going to become. One lives one's death, one dies one's life. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr Quotes)
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One is still what one is going to cease to be and already what one is going to become. One lives one’s death, one dies one’s life.Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952), (George Braziller, ed. 1963), Book I, Page 2

A man can't become a saint when he has to work sixteen hours a day. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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A man can’t become a saint when he has to work sixteen hours a day.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act II, Scene V, Page 81

The revolution you dream of is not ours. You don't want to change the world, you want to blow it up. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Dirty Hands Quotes)
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The revolution you dream of is not ours. You don’t want to change the world, you want to blow it up.Dirty Hands (1948), (Vintage Books, ed. 1955), Act V, Page 225

This is what fools people: a man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his own life as if he were telling a story. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea Quotes)
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This is what fools people: a man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his own life as if he were telling a story.Nausea (1938), (New Directions, ed. 1964), Page 39

Perception is naturally surpassed toward action; better yet, it can be revealed only in and through projects of action. The world is revealed as an "always future hollow," for we are always future to ourselves. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness Quotes)
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Perception is naturally surpassed toward action; better yet, it can be revealed only in and through projects of action. The world is revealed as an “always future hollow,” for we are always future to ourselves.Being and Nothingness (1943), (Philosophical Library, ed. 1956), Part III, Chapter II, Page 322

I tell you truly: all men on earth are prophets, or God does not exist. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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I tell you truly: all men on earth are prophets, or God does not exist.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act I, Scene I, Page 18

Men equally honest, equally devoted to their fatherland, are momentarily separated by different conceptions of their duty. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Dirty Hands Quotes)
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Men equally honest, equally devoted to their fatherland, are momentarily separated by different conceptions of their duty.Dirty Hands (1948), (Vintage Books, ed. 1955), Act IV, Page 194

She believed in nothing. Her scepticism alone kept her from being an atheist. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Words Quotes)
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She believed in nothing. Her scepticism alone kept her from being an atheist.The Words (1964), (George Braziller, ed. 1964), Part 1, Page 100

What do we mean here by "existence precedes essence"? We mean that man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism is a Humanism Quotes)
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What do we mean here by “existence precedes essence”? We mean that man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself.Existentialism is a Humanism (1946), (Yale University Press, ed. 2007), Page 22

Better have beasts that stand and let themselves be killed than men who run like rabbits. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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Better have beasts that stand and let themselves be killed than men who run like rabbits.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act III, Scene XI, Page 144

I confused things with their names: that amounts to believing. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Words Quotes)
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I confused things with their names: that amounts to believing.The Words (1964), (George Braziller, ed. 1964), Part 2, Page 251

I will not be modest. As humble as you please, but not modest. Modesty is the virtue of the half-hearted. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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I will not be modest. As humble as you please, but not  modest. Modesty is the  virtue of the half-hearted.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act II, Scene IV, Page 73

Consciousness is a being, the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness of its being. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness Quotes)
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Consciousness is a being, the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness of its being.Being and Nothingness (1943), (Philosophical Library, ed. 1956), Part I, Chapter II, Page 47

Existence is not something which lets itself be thought of from a distance: it must invade you suddenly, master you, weigh heavily on your heart like a great motionless beast - or else there is nothing more at all. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea Quotes)
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Existence is not something which lets itself be thought of from a distance: it must invade you suddenly, master you, weigh heavily on your heart like a great motionless beast – or else there is nothing more at all.Nausea (1938), (New Directions, ed. 1964), Page 132

I am not virtuous; but our sons will be if we shed enough blood to give them the right to become so. - Jean-Paul Sartre (The Devil and the Good Lord Quotes)
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I am not virtuous; but our sons will be if we shed enough blood to give them the right to become so.The Devil and the Good Lord (1951), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1960), Act I, Scene III, Page 50

Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess. All which I abandon, all which I give, I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away; giving is a keen, brief enjoyment, almost sexual. To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness Quotes)
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Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess. All which I abandon, all which I give, I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away; giving is a keen, brief enjoyment, almost sexual. To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives.Being and Nothingness (1943), (Philosophical Library, ed. 1956), Part IV, Chapter II, Page 594

My thought is me: that's why I can't stop. I exist because I think... and I can't stop myself from thinking. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea Quotes)
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My thought is me: that’s why I can’t stop. I exist because I think… and I can’t stop myself from thinking.Nausea (1938), (New Directions, ed. 1964), Page 99

The writer is situated in his time. Every word has consequences. Every silence, too. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Les Temps Modernes (October 1945) Quotes)
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The writer is situated in his time. Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.Les Temps Modernes (October 1945)

In fact, in a football match, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team. - Jean-Paul Sartre (Critique of Dialectical Reason Quotes)
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In fact, in a football match, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960), (ed. NLB, 1976), Page 473