Quotes from work
Dirty Hands

Jean Paul Sartre

Dirty Hands is a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. It was first performed on 2 April 1948 at the Theatre Antoine in Paris, directed by Pierre Valde and starring François Périer, Marie Olivier and André Luguet.

“As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“It is the good children, Madame, who make the most terrible revolutionaries. They say nothing, they do not hide under the table, they eat only one sweet at a time, but later on, they make Society pay dearly for it!”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Jessica, Act 3, sc. 1
Dirty Hands (1948)

“They made me take cod liver oil: that is the height of luxury: a medicine to make you hungry while the others, in the street, would have sold themselves for a beefsteak. I saw them passing my window with their signs: “Give me bread.””

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 3, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“I do not give a damn about the dead. They died for the [Communist] Party and the Party can decide what it wants. I practice a live man’s politics, for the living.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“You take souls for vegetables…. The gardener can decide what will become of his carrots but no one can choose the good of others for them.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Heinrich, Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“Listen to me: a family man is never a real family man. An assassin is never entirely assassin. They play a role, you understand. While a dead man, he is really dead. To be or not to be, right?”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Hugo, Act 4, sc. 6
Dirty Hands (1948)

“As for us, my little friend, we entered [the Communist Party] because we were tired of dying of hunger.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 3, sc. 2
Dirty Hands (1948)

“In any case, if you ever leave me with a handsome man, do not tell me that you trust me because, let me warn you: that is not what will prevent me from deceiving you, if I want to. On the contrary.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Jessica to her husband Hugo, Act 3, sc. 5
Dirty Hands (1948)

“What do you want to do with the [Communist] Party? A racing stable? What good is it to sharpen a knife every day if you never use it for slicing? A party is never more than a means. There is only one objective: power.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Hoederer to Hugo, Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“I say a murder is abstract. You pull the trigger and after that you do not understand anything that happens.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 5, sc. 2
Dirty Hands (1948)

“The best work is not what is most difficult for you; it is what you do best.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 6, sc. 2
Dirty Hands (1948)

“I was not the one to invent lies: they were created in a society divided by class and each of us inherited lies when we were born. It is not by refusing to lie that we will abolish lies: it is by eradicating class by any means necessary.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 5, sc. 2
Dirty Hands (1948)

“The [Communist] Party has one objective: the creation of a socialist economy; and one means: the utilization of the class struggle.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Hugo, Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“I respect orders but I respect myself too and I do not obey foolish rules made especially to humiliate me.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Hugo to Slick and Georges, Act 3, sc. 2
Dirty Hands (1948)

“I entered the [Communist] Party because its cause was just and I will leave it when it ceases to be just.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Hugo to Hoederer, Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“Intellectuals cannot be good revolutionaries; they are just good enough to be assassins.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 5, sc. 3
Dirty Hands (1948)

“I was your luxury. For nineteen years I have been put in your man’s world and was forbidden to touch anything and you made me think that all was going very well and that I did not have to worry about anything but putting flowers in vases. Why did you lie to me? Why did you keep me ignorant, if it was to admit to me one day that this world is cracking and that you are all powerless and to make me choose between a suicide and a murder?”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Jessica to Hugo, Act 5, sc. 2
Dirty Hands (1948)

“It is the same thing: killing, dying, it is the same thing: one is just as alone in each. He is lucky, he will only die once. As for me, for ten days I have been killing him at every minute.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Hugo to Jessica, on his plans to kill Hoederer, Act 5, sc. 2
Dirty Hands (1948)

“Karsky: I met your father last week. Are you still interested in hearing how he is doing?
Hugo: No.
Karsky: It is very probable that you will be responsible for his death.
Hugo: It is virtually certain that he is responsible for my life. We are even.”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Act 4, sc. 4
Dirty Hands (1948)

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