If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
All human actions are equivalent... and all are on principle doomed to failure.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that all human efforts are similar and ultimately destined to fail.
Sartre's assertion reflects a philosophical nihilism, proposing that regardless of the intentions or efforts behind human actions, they are fundamentally equal in their outcomes, leading to inevitable failure. This perspective challenges the value of human endeavors and suggests a deterministic view of existence, questioning the meaning and purpose behind striving for success or fulfillment.
Themes
Human ActionsFailurePhilosophyExistenceNihilism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a philosophical discussion about the nature of human efforts.
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.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
A kiss without a moustache, they said then, is like an egg without salt; I will add to it: and it is like Good without Evil.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
I wanted pure love: foolishness; to love one another is to hate a common enemy: I will thus espouse your hatred. I wanted Good: nonsense; on this earth and in these times, Good and Bad are inseparable: I accept to be evil in order to become good.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Night is falling: at dusk, you must have good eyesight to be able to tell the Good Lord from the Devil.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Similar quotes
I got to thinking about the Book of Revelation that was written by a Jewish prophet who was also a follower of Jesus who hated the Roman Empire. I realized that the Book of Revelation could be a way to reflect on the issue of religion's relationship to politics.
Elaine PagelsRead
To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.
AristotleRead
Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
Oscar WildeRead
You can't be a minority in this society without having someone express disapproval about affirmative action.
Sonia SotomayorRead
We could cope—the world could cope—with a Jesus who ultimately remains a wonderful idea inside his disciples' minds and hearts. The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God's new creation right in the middle of the old one.
N. T. WrightRead
Since the notion that we should all forsake attachment to race and/or cultural identity and be “just humans” within the framework of white supremacy has usually meant that subordinate groups must surrender their identities, beliefs, values, and assimilate by adopting the values and beliefs of privileged-class whites, rather than promoting racial harmony this thinking has created a fierce cultural protectionism.
Bell HooksRead