If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Man's existence precedes his essence
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea that individuals create their own identity and purpose through their actions, rather than being born with a predetermined essence.
Jean-Paul Sartre's assertion 'Man's existence precedes his essence' suggests that human beings first exist without any inherent purpose or definition, and it is through their choices and actions that they create their own essence or meaning in life. This philosophy aligns with existentialism, emphasizing personal responsibility and the freedom to define oneself without relying on external labels or expectations.
In practice
During a philosophy class discussion about existentialism.
If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
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.
If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.
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.
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.
Night is falling: at dusk, you must have good eyesight to be able to tell the Good Lord from the Devil.
England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.
Let the moment go. . . . Don't forget it for a moment, though. Just remembering you've had an "and" when you're back to "or" makes the "or" mean more than it did before. . . . Now I understand! And it's time to leave the woods.
The Cheshire Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt it ought to be treated with respect.
The question of the next generation will not be one of how to liberate the masses, but rather, how to make them love their servitude.
Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable.
Donβt let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.
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