Jean-Paul Sartre
French Philosopher and Playwright
| Date of Birth | : | 21 Jun, 1905 |
| Date of Death | : | 15 Apr, 1980 |
| Place of Birth | : | Paris, France |
| Profession | : | French Philosopher, Playwright, Author |
| Nationality | : | French |
Jean-Paul Sartre was a French Philosopher, Novelist, Author, and Playwright, best known as the leading exponent of existentialism in the 20th century. In 1964 he declined the Nobel Prize for Literature, which had been awarded to him “for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age.”
Early life and writings
Sartre lost his father at an early age and grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather, Carl Schweitzer, uncle of the medical missionary Albert Schweitzer and himself professor of German at the Sorbonne. The boy, who wandered in the Luxembourg Gardens of Paris in search of playmates, was small in stature and cross-eyed. His brilliant autobiography, Les Mots (1963; Words), narrates the adventures of the mother and child in the park as they went from group to group—in the vain hope of being accepted—then finally retreated to the sixth floor of their apartment “on the heights where (the) dreams dwell.” “The words” saved the child, and his interminable pages of writing were the escape from a world that had rejected him but that he would proceed to rebuild in his own fancy.
Quotes
Total 20 Quotes
He who asks a question is a fool for a minute; he who does not remains a fool forever. When you realize that by changing your perspective, big things can be seen as little things, it becomes much harder to worry about anything. Commitment is an act, not a word.
I can always choose, but I ought to know that if I do not choose, I am still choosing.
We make our own hell out of the people around us.
In a word, man must create his own essence: it is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there, struggling there, that he gradually defines himself.
Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.
Two people can form a community by excluding a third.
Sometimes the truth is too simple for intellectuals.
We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us.
Once we know and are aware, we are responsible for our action and our inaction. We can do something about it or ignore it. Either way, we are still responsible.
Death is a continuation of my life without me.
