If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
We will not go to Heaven,Goetz, and even if we both entered it, we would not have eyes to see each other, nor hands to touch each other. Up there, God gets all the attention.... We can only love on this earth and against God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is an earthly experience that separates us from divine attention.
In this quote, Sartre expresses the sentiment that human love is fundamentally tied to our earthly existence. He suggests that if there were a Heaven, the divine would monopolize our attention, leaving no space for the intimate connections we share with one another. This contemplation highlights the transient and unique nature of love in our mortal lives, asserting that true love is experienced in the realm of our physical existence rather than in an idealized afterlife.
Themes
LoveHeavenEarthAttentionConnectionExistence
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding ceremony to emphasize the significance of love in earthly life.
More from Jean-Paul Sartre
All quotes →All I want is' - and he uttered the final words through clenched teeth and with a sort of shame - 'to retain my freedom.' I should myself have thought,' said Jacques, 'that freedom consisted in frankly confronting situations into which one had deliberately entered, and accepting all one's responsibilities. But that, no doubt, is not your view.
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Night is falling: at dusk, you must have good eyesight to be able to tell the Good Lord from the Devil.
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