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The thing that attracted me about philosophy was that it went straight to essentials. I had never liked fiddling detail; I perceived the general signi...more

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(About Sartre...)His death does not separate us. My death will not bring us together again. That is how things are. It is in itself splendid that we w...more

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I’ve done everything I wanted to do, writing books, learning about things, but I’ve been swindled all the same because it’s never anything more.

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Yet I loathe the thought of annihilating myself quite as much now as I ever did. I think with sadness of all the books I’ve read, all the places I’ve ...more

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The fear of death never left me; I couldn't get used to the thought; I would still sometimes shake and weep with terror. By contrast, the fact of exis...more

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All she had to do was make the simplest of gestures - open her hands and let go her hold. She lifted one hand and moved the fingers of it; they respon...more

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Have you ever felt in your inmost being, the conscience of others?' again she was trembling, the words were not releasing her. 'It's intolerable you k...more

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Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death.

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Every war, every revolution, demands the sacrifice of a generation, of a collectivity, by those who undertake it.

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A freedom which is interested only in denying freedom must be denied. And it is not true that the recognition of the freedom of others limits my own f...more

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Ethics is the triumph of freedom over facticity.

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As long as there have been men and they have lived, they have all felt this tragic ambiguity of their condition, but as long as there have been philos...more

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The continuous work of our life,” says Montaigne, “is to build death.” He quotes the Latin poets: Prima, quae vitam dedit, hora corpsit. And again: Na...more

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Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual wea...more

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In the face of an obstacle which it is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid. If I persist in beating my fist against a stone wall, my freedo...more