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Jean Paul Sartre Quotes
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321 Thought-Provoking Quotes on Individuality, Existence, and Life

Discover the profound wisdom of Jean Paul Sartre through a collection of thought-provoking quotes. From the importance of individuality and self-determination to the complexities of human existence, delve into the mind of this influential philosopher and explore his unique perspectives on life.

Jean-Paul Sartre was a prominent French philosopher, playwright, novelist, and political activist. He is considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism, known for his work in existentialism. Sartre's philosophy influenced various fields including sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. Despite declining official honors, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964. Sartre had a significant relationship with feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and together they challenged societal norms and expectations. The conflict between conformity and authenticity was a central theme in his early work.

Born on June 21, 1905 in Paris, Sartre showed an early interest in philosophy and literature. He studied at the École Normale Supérieure where he formed lifelong friendships with influential intellectuals of his time. Sartre's philosophical development was greatly influenced by attending seminars conducted by Alexandre Kojève. Throughout his life, Sartre actively engaged in political activism and social justice causes. He strongly opposed colonization and supported the Algerian War for independence from French rule as well as anti-American involvement in the Vietnam War. As a prolific writer, Sartre produced numerous works including plays such as "No Exit" and "The Flies". In later years, he renounced literature but continued to write about politics and issues of social import. Jean-Paul Sartre passed away on April 15, 1980 in Paris.

✵ 21. June 1905 – 15. April 1980   •   Other names Jean-Paule Sartre
Jean Paul Sartre photo
Jean Paul Sartre: 321   quotes 51   likes

Jean Paul Sartre Quotes

“A man who belongs to some communist or revolutionary society wills certain concrete ends, which imply the will to freedom, and that freedom is willed in community. We will freedom for freedom’s sake, and in and through the particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own.”

Jean Paul Sartre

Source: Existentialism Is a Humanism (1946), pp. 51-52

Freedom , Dependency , Communication

“First, what do we mean by anguish? The existentialist frankly states that man is in anguish. His meaning is as follows-When a man commits himself to anything, fully realizing that he is not only choosing what he will be, but is thereby at the same time a legislator deciding for the whole of mankind-in such a moment a man cannot escape from the sense of complete and profound responsibility.”

Jean Paul Sartre

Source: Existentialism Is a Humanism (1946), p. 30

Sense , Time

“What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards. If man as the existentialist see him is not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself. Thus, there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of himself. Man simply is.”

Jean Paul Sartre

Source: Existentialism Is a Humanism (1946), p. 28

World , God , Making love , Nature

“The anti‐Semite understands nothing about modern society. He would be incapable of conceiving of a constructive plan; his action cannot reach the level of the methodical; it remains on the ground of passion. To a long‐term enterprise he prefers an explosion of rage analogous to the running amuck of the Malays. His intellectual activity is confined to interpretation; he seeks in historical events the signs of the presence of an evil power. Out of this spring those childish and elaborate fabrications which give him his resemblance to the extreme paranoiacs. In addition, anti‐Semitism channels evolutionary drives toward the destruction of certain men, not of institutions. An anti‐Semitic mob will consider it has done enough when it has massacred some Jews and burned a few synagogues. It represents, therefore, a safety valve for the owning classes, who encourage it and thus substitute for a dangerous hate against their regime a beneficent hate against particular people. Above all this naive dualism is eminently reassuring to he anti‐Semite himself. If all he has to do is to remove Evil, that means that the Good is already given.”

Jean Paul Sartre book Anti-Semite and Jew

He has no need to seek it in anguish, to invent it, to scrutinize it patiently when he has found it, to prove it in action, to verify it by its consequences, or, finally, to shoulder he responsibilities of the moral choice be has made. It is not by chance that the great outbursts of anti‐Semitic rage conceal a basic optimism. The anti‐Semite as cast his lot for Evil so as not to have to cast his lot for Good. The more one is absorbed in fighting Evil, the less one is tempted to place the Good in question. One does not need to talk about it, yet it is always understood in the discourse of the anti‐Semite and it remains understood in his thought. When he has fulfilled his mission as holy destroyer, the Lost Paradise will reconstitute itself. For the moment so many tasks confront the anti‐Semite that he does not have time to think about it. He is in the breach, fighting, and each of his outbursts of rage is a pretext to avoid the anguished search for the Good.
Pages 31-32
Anti-Semite and Jew (1945)

Hate , Understanding , People , Spring

“To shoot down a European is to kill two birds with one stone, to destroy an oppressor and the man he oppresses at the same time.”

Jean Paul Sartre

Miscellaneous
Source: The Doctor Prescribed Violence https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/02/books/the-doctor-prescribed-violence.html, Adam Shatz Sept. 2, 2001, New York Times

Bird , Time

“Commitment is an act, not a word.”

Jean Paul Sartre

“...the impossible must be supposed in order to explain the superdetermination of the event”

Jean Paul Sartre book Saint Genet

Source: Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952), p. 301

“...for one cannot enter an image unless one makes oneself imaginary”

Jean Paul Sartre book Saint Genet

Source: Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952), p. 297

“He wanted to assume his entire condition, to carry the world on his shoulders and to become, in defiance of all, what all have made of him.”

Jean Paul Sartre book Saint Genet

Source: Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952), p. 384

World

“What matters is not what is being done of us, but what we do ourselves with what has been done of us.”

Jean Paul Sartre book Saint Genet

Original: (fr) L’important n’est pas ce qu’on fait de nous mais ce que nous faisons nous-même de ce qu’on a fait de nous.
Source: Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952), p.55

“For man holds his ground only by surpassing himself, in the same sense in which it is said that one ceases to love if one does not love increasingly everyday.”

Jean Paul Sartre book Saint Genet

Source: Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952), p. 238

Sense , Love

“Above all, don't lie to yourself.”

Jean Paul Sartre
Lie