Quotes from workNo Exit
No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The original title is the French equivalent of the legal term in camera, referring to a private discussion behind closed doors. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting in a mysterious room. It is a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for eternity. It is the source of Sartre's especially famous quotation "L'enfer, c'est les autres" or "Hell is other people", a reference to Sartre's ideas about the look and the perpetual ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object from the view of another consciousness.
On meurt toujours trop tôt - ou trop tard. Et cependant la vie est là, terminée : le trait est tiré, il faut faire la somme. Tu n'es rien d'autre que ta vie.
Inès, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
Inès, describing her path to Hell, Act 1, sc. 5
Source: No Exit (1944)
Garcin, Act 1, sc. 5
Variant: So that is what hell is. I would never have believed it. You remember: the fire and brimstone, the torture. Ah! the farce. There is no need for torture: Hell is other people.
Source: No Exit (1944)
Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
“We are in hell and I will have my turn!”
Inès warns Garcin and Estelle not to make love in her presence, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
“If only you knew how little I care. Cowardly or not, as long as he is a good kisser.”
Estelle on Garcin, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
“It is better; heavier, crueler. The mouth you wear for hell.”
Inès to Estelle after she has applied lipstick, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
Estelle to Inès, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
Act 1, sc. 5
Variant translation: Among murderers. We are in hell, my dear, there is never a mistake and people are not damned for nothing.
No Exit (1944)
Estelle, refusing to use the word “dead”, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
Estelle, discovering that there are no mirrors in Hell, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
