If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
I am beginning to believe that nothing can ever be proved. These are honest hypotheses which take the facts into account: but I sense so definitely that they come from me, and that they are simply a way of unifying my own knowledge. Not a glimmer comes from Rollebon's side. Slow, lazy, sulky, the facts adapt themselves to the rigour of the order I wish to give them; but it remains outside of them. I have the feeling of doing a work of pure imagination.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the idea that our understanding of truth is subjective and shaped by our imagination and interpretation.
In this quote, Jean-Paul Sartre expresses a perspective on knowledge and truth, suggesting that the concepts we create are often rooted in personal imagination rather than objective reality. He conveys a sense of skepticism towards factual evidence, indicating that what we perceive as truth is influenced by our individual minds and interpretations. Sartre's contemplation reveals the complexities of knowledge and how it may often be an internal construct rather than a direct reflection of external facts.
Themes
SubjectivityKnowledgeImaginationTruthPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of scientific theories, one might quote Sartre to illustrate the subjective basis of knowledge.
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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If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.
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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.
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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.
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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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