"Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance."

— Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre Tee

"Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance."

$24.99

Shipping to most locations included in price. + $1.75 est. tax (US estimate)

Era: Contemporary

Region: European

Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre

1905 – 1980
Contemporary European

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, and literary critic who became one of the most prominent public intellectuals of the twentieth century. His masterwork Being and Nothingness (1943) developed a systematic existentialist ontology centered on the radical freedom and responsibility of human consciousness. Sartre argued that "existence precedes essence"—that human beings have no predetermined nature but must create themselves through their choices. This freedom is inescapable and often experienced as anguish. His concept of "bad faith" described the self-deception by which people deny their freedom and pretend their choices are determined by external forces. His literary works—including Nausea, and plays such as No Exit—dramatized these themes for a wide audience. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature but declined it, saying that a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution. His lifelong intellectual partnership with Simone de Beauvoir became one of the most famous relationships in literary history.

View all quotes →