“Man, when he is merely what he seems to be, is almost nothing.”
El hombre, cuando es solamente lo que parece ser el hombre, casi no es nada.
Voces (1943)
Notes on Life and Letters (1921), part II, "Well Done"
“Man, when he is merely what he seems to be, is almost nothing.”
El hombre, cuando es solamente lo que parece ser el hombre, casi no es nada.
Voces (1943)
“Man is a tool-using animal…Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.”
Bk. I, ch. 5.
1830s, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834)
“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”
No Exit (1944)
Variant: A man is what he wills himself to be.
Source: Existentialism and Human Emotions
1930s, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken (1932)
“Man lives measuring, and he’s the measure of nothing. Not even of himself.”
El hombre vive midiendo, y no es medida de nada. Ni de sí mismo.
Voces (1943)