I do not believe in God; his existence has been disproved by Science. But in the concentration camp, I learned to believe in men. Jean-Paul Sartre More Quotes by Jean-Paul Sartre More Quotes From Jean-Paul Sartre I said to myself, 'I want to die decently'. Jean-Paul Sartre dies want said This then is the age of reason. Jean-Paul Sartre age-of-reason age reason A good hanging now and then -- that entertains folk in the provinces and robs death of its glamour. Jean-Paul Sartre folks glamour now-and-then Either the USSR was not the country of socialism, in which case socialism didn't exist anywhere and doubtless, wasn't possible: or else, socialism was that, this abominable monster, this police state, the power of beasts of prey. Jean-Paul Sartre police monsters country The sun is not ridiculous, quite the contrary. On everything I like, on the rust of the construction girders, on the rotten boards of the fence, a miserly, uncertain light falls, like the look you give, after a sleepless night, on decisions made with enthusiasm the day before, on pages you have written in one spurt without crossing out a word. Jean-Paul Sartre light night fall One could only damage oneself through the harm one did to others. One could never get directly at oneself. Jean-Paul Sartre damage oneself harm Love or hatred calls for self-surrender. He cuts a fine figure, the warm-blooded, prosperous man, solidly entrenched in his well-being, who one fine day surrenders all to love—or to hatred; himself, his house, his land, his memories. Jean-Paul Sartre cutting men memories Little flashes of sun on the surface of a cold, dark sea. Jean-Paul Sartre sea dark sun I entered the Communist Party because its cause was just and I will leave it when it ceases to be just. Jean-Paul Sartre communist causes party Criminals together. We're in hell, my little friend, and there's never any mistake there. People are not damned for nothing. Jean-Paul Sartre together mistake people The plight of modern man is that he is condemmed to be free. Jean-Paul Sartre plight modern men Ah! Do not judge the gods, young man, they have painful secrets. Jean-Paul Sartre judging secret men Abjection is a methodological conversion, like Cartesian doubt and Husserlian epoche: it establishes the world as a closed system which consciousness regards from without, in the manner of divine understanding. Jean-Paul Sartre understanding doubt world I clung to nothing, in a way I was calm. But it was a horrible calm—because of my body; my body, I saw with its eyes, I heard with its ears, but it was no longer me; it sweated and trembled by itself and I didn’t recognize it any more. Jean-Paul Sartre body eye ears Happiness has to be installed in each person as a state of affairs completely cut off from the process that brought it about and, in particular, from the real situation. Man has to be affected with happiness. It is a tonality given to him. Contradiction: if one does take care to give him happiness, it is because he is a free creature--but in order to give it to him, one turns him into an object. Jean-Paul Sartre cutting real men But I must finally realize that I am subject to these sudden transformations. The thing is that I rarely think; a crowd of small metamorphoses accumulate in me without my noticing it, and then, one fine day, a veritable revolution takes place. Jean-Paul Sartre crowds revolution thinking I have always been an optimist, perhaps even too much. Jean-Paul Sartre optimist too-much From the period when I wrote La Nausea I wanted to create a morality. My evolution consists in my no longer dreaming of doing so. Jean-Paul Sartre nausea morality dream If I did not publish this autobiography [Les Mots] sooner and in its most radical form, it is because I considered it exaggerated. Jean-Paul Sartre radical autobiography form I had realized in the meantime that action too has its difficulties, and that one can also be led to it by neurosis. We are not saved by politics any more than by literature. Jean-Paul Sartre neurosis literature action
