Quotes from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“Il n'y a de réalité que dans l'action.

(There is no reality except in action.)”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“In life man commits himself and draws his own portrait, outside of which there is nothing. No doubt this thought may seem harsh to someone who has not made a success of his life. But on the other hand, it helps people to understand that reality alone counts, and that dreams, expectations and hopes only serve to define a man as a broken dream, aborted hopes, and futile expectations.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“For many have but one resource to sustain them in their misery, and that is to think, “Circumstances have been against me, I was worthy to be something much better than I have been. I admit I have never had a great love or a great friendship; but that is because I never met a man or a woman who were worthy of it; if I have not written any very good books, it is because I had not the leisure to do so; or, if I have had no children to whom I could devote myself it is because I did not find the man I could have lived with. So there remains within me a wide range of abilities, inclinations and potentialities, unused but perfectly viable, which endow me with a worthiness that could never be inferred from the mere history of my actions.” But in reality and for the existentialist, there is no love apart from the deeds of love; no potentiality of love other than that which is manifested in loving; there is no genius other than that which is expressed in works of art.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“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 afterward.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“القيم الأخلاقية غامضة غير محددة، وهى تمتد إلى ما لا نهاية.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“There is no reality except in action. Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through 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. Obviously, freedom as the definition of a man does not depend upon others, but as soon as there is a commitment, I am obliged to will the liberty of others at the same time as my own. I cannot make liberty my aim unless I make that of others equally my aim.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“Atheistic existentialism, of which I am a representative, declares with greater consistency that if God does not exist there is at least one being whose existence comes before its essence, a being which exists before it can be defined by any conception of it. That being is man....”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“Il n’y a de réalité que dans l’action… [L’être humain] n’existe que dans la mesure où il se réalise, il n’est donc rien d’autre que sa vie”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“The existentialist, on the contrary, finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven. There can no longer be any good a priori, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to think it. It is nowhere written that “the good” exists, that one must be honest or must not lie, since we are now upon the plane where there are only men. Dostoevsky once wrote: “If God did not exist, everything would be permitted”; and that, for existentialism, is the starting point. Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either within or outside himself. He discovers forthwith, that he is without excuse.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“لا يمكن أن أدلل على حقيقة عاطفتى وكلامى إلا إذا مارست ذلك فعلاً.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“أستطيع أن أقيس قوة عاطفتى لو أتيت من الأعمال ما يؤكدها ويصادق عليها.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“إن الإنسان محكوم عليه بالحرية: محكوم لأنه لم يخلق ذاته، وهو حر لأنه قد صار مسؤلاً عن كل مايفعل بمجرد أن تواجد في العالم.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“If God does not exist, are we provided with any values or commands that could legitimise our behaviour.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“L'existentialiste, au contraire, pense qu'il est très gênant que Dieu n'existe pas, car avec lui disparaît toute possibilité de trouver des valeurs dans un ciel intelligible; il ne peut plus y avoir de bien a priori, puisqu'il n'y a pas de conscience infinie et parfaite pour le penser; il n'est écrit nulle part que le bien existe, qu'il faut être honnête, qu'il ne faut pas mentir, puisque précisément nous sommes sur un plan où il y a seulement des hommes.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“(...) sólo el perro o el caballo podrían emitir un juicio de conjunto sobre el hombre y declarar que el hombre es asombroso, lo que ellos no se preocupan de hacer, por lo menos que yo sepa. Pero no se puede admitir que un hombre pueda formular un juicio sobre el hombre.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“Een mens engageert zich in zijn leven, krijgt daarin gestalte en buiten die gestalte is er niets. Voor iemand die in zijn leven niet geslaagd is, moet dat natuurlijk een harde gedachte zijn. Maar anderzijds stelt ze de mensen in staat te begrijpen dat alleen de werkelijkheid telt, dat dromen, afwachten en hopen een mens tot niet meer dan een teleurgestelde droom, een vervlogen hoop, een vergeefse verwachting maken.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“من هنگامي آزادم كه همه جهانيان آزاد باشند،‌تا هنگامي كه يك نفر اسير در جهان است، آزادي وجود ندارد”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“El hombre no es nada más que su proyecto, no existe más que en la medida en que se realiza, no es, por lo tanto, más que el conjunto de sus actos, nada más que su vida.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“O existencialismo não é tanto um ateísmo no sentido em que se esforçaria por demonstrar que Deus não existe. Ele declara, mais exatamente: mesmo que Deus existisse, nada mudaria; eis o nosso ponto de vista. Não que acreditemos que deus exista, mas pensamos que o problema não é o da sua existência; é preciso que o homem se reencontre e se convença de que nada pode salvá-lo dele próprio, nem mesmo uma prova válida da existência de Deus.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

“به جاي تسلط بر جهان بايد بر خويشتن مسلط شد”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Existentialism Is a Humanism

About the author

Popular quotes

“With the thought of power, men's hearts darken, with the vision of wealth, morals and values crumble, but that all be comes secondary to love. - Shamus Hennicot”
― Richard Doetsch, quote from The 13th Hour

“The longer I observe the way people really act, the happier I am that I never pay attention to them. The”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails

“Forget about writing to Penthouse.
This one was going to be a story for their grandkids.”
― Suzanne Brockmann, quote from Out of Control

“Съзерцавах морето. Нещо ставаше в мен. Не знам точно какво: някакъв безграничен покой, усещане за осъществяване. Оттогава морето винаги си остана за мен скромна, но достатъчна метафора. Не умея да говоря за морето. Знам само, че то ме освобождава от всички задължения. Колчем го погледна, се превръщам в щастлива удавник.”
― Romain Gary, quote from Promise at Dawn

“You could pretend that Guenever was a sort of man-eating lioncelle herself, or that she was one of those selfish women who insist on ruling everywhere. In fact, this is what she did seem to be to a superficial inspection. She was beautiful, sanguine, hot-tempered, demanding, impulsive, acquisitive, charming - she had all the proper qualities for a man-eater. But the rock on which these easy explanations founder, is that she was not promiscuous. There was never anybody in her life except Lancelot and Arthur. She never ate anybody except these. And even these she did not eat in the full sense of the word. People who have been digested by a man-eating lioncelle tend to become nonentities - to live no life except within the vitals of the devourer. Yet both Arthur and Lancelot, the people whom she apparently devoured, lived full lives, and accomplished things of their own.

She lived in warlike times, when the lives of young people were as short as those of airmen in the twentieth century. In such times, the elderly moralists are content to relax their moral laws a little, in return for being defended. The condemned pilots, with their lust for life and love which is probably to be lost so soon, touch the hearts of young women, or possibly call up an answering bravado. Generosity, courage, honesty, pity, the faculty to look short life in the face - certainly comradeship and tenderness - these qualities may explain why Guenever took Lancelot as well as Arthur. It was courage more than anything else - the courage to take and give from the heart, while there was time. Poets are always urging women to have this kind of courage. She gathered her rose-buds while she might, and the striking thing was that she only gathered two of them, which she kept always, and that those two were the best.”
― T.H. White, quote from The Ill-Made Knight

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.