Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Thursday Thirteen 208: Quotes from Sartre






In last week's post, I talked about French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre and mentioned that my favorite quote by him was L'enfer, c'est les autres (hell is other people). This week I thought I'd share a few more quotes by him.


1. As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.

2. Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.

3. If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.

4. One always dies too soon or too late. And yet, life is there, finished: the line is drawn, and it must all be added up. You are nothing other than your life.

5. Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat.

6. There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk.

7. Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.

8. Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think.

9. Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees.

10. As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished. (From No Exit)

11. Perhaps its inevitable, perhaps one has to choose between being nothing at all and impersonating what one is.

12. There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.

13. You and me are real people, operating in a real world. We are not figments of each other’s imagination. I am the architect of my own self, my own character and destiny. It is no use whingeing about what I might have been, I am the things I have done and nothing more. We are all free, completely free. We can each do any damn thing we want. Which is more than most of us dare to imagine.




LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)
Alice Audrey * Kwee * Shelley Munro
Darla M Sands * Maddy Barone * CountryDew
Colleen * Paige Tyler * Janice Seagraves
Jennifer Leeland * Skylar Kade * Xakara
Suzanna Medeiros * A Catherine Noon



23 comments:

Alice Audrey said...

I get the feeling I probably shouldn't be laughing at ones like #3, but there it is.

Kwee Cats and Art said...

Very good. Absolutely great selection. I kept trying to pick a favorite, then just a few favorites, then gave up. I like them all :-)

Well done.

Shelley Munro said...

These are great quotes. I liked the one about rowing and rocking the boat.

Darla M Sands said...

Thanks for sharing these! I'm with Shelley as to my favorite.

Maddy Barone said...

# 5 and #9 rang with me.

CountryDew said...

Great quotes.

colleen said...

I love #2, 5 and 7. Another French philosopher said "Things I would not tell anyone, I tell the public." ~ Michel de Montaigne. Sounds like blogging.

Paige Tyler said...

Interesting!

*hugs*
Paige

My TT is up at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/

Heather said...

Alice: No, you shouldn't. If you aren't comfortable being with yourself, how can you expect anyone else to be xomfortable with you? ;)

Kwee: Thank you! *vbg*

Shelley: That is one of my favorites, too.

Heather said...

Darla: Thank you, again--one of my faves, too.

Maddy: Too good choices! *g*

Anita: Thanks! :)

Heather said...

Colleen: Yes, I think de Montaigne would get a real laugh out of the blogging craze. *g*

Paige: Thanks! :)

Alice Audrey said...

I still think it's funny.

Jennifer Leeland said...

I love the one "Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat."

Absolutely true. Great quotes.

Heather said...

Alice: You would, lol. *Shakes head*

Jennifer: That seems to be a popular favorite. *g*

Ron. said...

Great selection. Love Sartre. #8's a fave. Well done.

Janice Seagraves said...

I love this quote: If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.

Heather said...

Thanks Ron and Janice!

Xakara said...

I think 2 is my favorite of those listed but 5 and 7 just make me smile.

Happy TT,

~Xakara
13 Desserts

Suzanna said...

So much of that rings true. It's hard to pick one favorite, but I'm leaning towards #13.

A. Catherine Noon said...

Wow. I am now in love with you for quoting Sartre. ~grin~

This is my favorite: 2. Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.

Thanks for a great TT!

Kaye said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kaye said...

Hi again, due to the holiday I'll give you until Tuesday night to contact me at florida982002[at]yahoo.com with your mailing info for the book you won at PPP.

Heather said...

Xakara: Number two does seem an appropriate choice for this particular weekend, doesn't it? *g*

Suzanna: An excellent choice! ;)

Catherine: Aw, shucks...thank you. *VBG*

Kaye: Oh, cool! Thanks Kaye. And just as a suggestion? Maybe you should be more careful about scheduling draws over long holiday weekends. Many people made this a 4-day weekend, and there are also a lot of communities (such as mine) that hold 4th of July celebrations before the 4th. Which is why I wasn't home all weekend. ;)