What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means first, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterward, defines himself. If manned, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterwards will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

What's done at night belongs to the night. In the daytime you don't talk about it.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

What sort of adventures?' I asked him, astonished. ‘All sorts, Monsieur. Getting on the wrong train. Stopping in an unknown city. Losing your briefcase, being arrested by mistake, spending the night in prison. Monsieur, I believe the word adventure could be defined: an event out of the ordinary without being necessarily extraordinary.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

What then did you expect when you unbound the gag that muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when those heads that our fathers had forcibly bowed down to the ground were raised again, you would find adoration in their eyes?

— Jean-Paul Sartre

When the rich wage war it's the poor who die.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

With older people, it's quite different. They're reliable, they show you what to do, and there's solidity in their affection.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

You are -- your life, and nothing else.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

You didn't succeed. Well, what of that? There's nothing to prove, you know, and the revolution's not a question of virtue but of effectiveness. There is no heaven. There's work to be done, that's all. And you must do what you're cut out for; all the better if it comes easy to you. The best work is not the work that takes the most sacrifice. It's the work in which you can best succeed.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

You're lucky. I'm always conscious of myself —in my mind. Painfully conscious.

— Jean-Paul Sartre