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The More Absurd Life Is, The More Insupportable Death Is.
-Jean-Paul Sartre
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The More Absurd Life

Jean-Paul Sartre
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The More Absurd Life Is, The More Insupportable Death Is.

Understanding the Quote: "the more absurd life is, the more insupportable death is...."

This quote by Jean-Paul Sartre reflects deeply on the theme of life is. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Life Is, Absurd, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Jean-Paul Sartre interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre is celebrated for insightful thoughts on life is and absurd. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Life Is
Absurd
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You Know How Much I Admire Che Guevara. In Fact, I Believe That The Man Was Not Only An Intellectual But Also The Most Complete Human Being Of Our Age: As A Fighter And As A Man, As A Theoretician Who Was Able To Further The Cause Of Revolution By Drawing His Theories From His Personal Experience In Battle.
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Example
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Men
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Consent
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Reflection
Consciousness
Pale
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People
Hell
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Ignorance
Hands
Circles
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Waiting
Needs
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Pistols
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Hands
Giving
I Was Escaping From Nature And At Last Becoming Myself, That Other Whom I Was Aspiring To Be In The Eyes Of Others.
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Eye
Escaping
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Men
Life Begins On The Other Side Of Despair.
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Ideas
Giving
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I Had Realized In The Meantime That Action Too Has Its Difficulties, And That One Can Also Be Led To It By Neurosis. We Are Not Saved By Politics Any More Than By Literature.
Literature
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Criticism
Language
I Construct My Memories With My Present. I Am Lost, Abandoned In The Present. I Try In Vain To Rejoin The Past: I Cannot Escape.
Memories
Past
Trying
When One Does Nothing, One Believes Oneself Responsible For Everything.
Believe
Doe
Responsible
Is There Really Nothing, Nothing Left Of Me?
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As If There Could Be True Stories: Things Happen In One Way, And We Retell Them In The Opposite Way.
Truth
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Stories
The Best Work Is Not What Is Most Difficult For You; It Is What You Do Best.
Inspirational
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Difficult
Man Is Always A Wizard To Man, And The Social World Is At First Magical.
Men
Wizards
World
There It Is: I Am Gently Slipping Into The Water's Depths, Towards Fear.
Water
Depth
Slipping
God Is Absence. God Is The Solitude Of Man.
Men
Solitude
Absence
Take [stéphane] Mallarme. I Hold Him To Be The Greatest Of French Poets, And I Have Taken Some Time To Understand Him !
Taken
Poet
Love Or Hatred Calls For Self-surrender. He Cuts A Fine Figure, The Warm-blooded, Prosperous Man, Solidly Entrenched In His Well-being, Who One Fine Day Surrenders All To Love—or To Hatred; Himself, His House, His Land, His Memories.
Memories
Cutting
Men
You Must Be Like Me; You Must Suffer In Rhythm.
Suffering
Rhythm
Like Me
Thrown Into The Atmosphere Of Action [in 1954], I Suddenly Understood The Kind Of Neurosis That Dominated All My Previous Work. I Had Not Been Able To Recognize It Before: I Was Inside. Simone De Beauvoir Had Guessed These Reasons Before I Did.
Atmosphere
Neurosis
Able
Atheism Is A Cruel Long Term Business, And I Have Gone Through It To The End.
Long
Atheism
Gone
What's Done At Night Belongs To The Night. In The Daytime You Don't Talk About It.
Night
Done
Daytime
There Are Two Ways Of Destroying A People. Either Condemn Them En Bloc Or Force Them To Repudiate The Leaders They Adopted. The Second Is The Worse.
Two
People
Leader
To Keep Hope Alive One Must, In Spite Of All Mistakes, Horrors, And Crimes, Recognize The Obvious Superiority Of The Socialist Camp.
Mistake
Alive
Horror
To Think New Thoughts You Have To Break The Bones In Your Head
Thinking
Bones
Break
Outside Nature, Against Nature, Without Excuse, Beyond Remedy, Except What Remedy I Find Within Myself.
Excuse
Remedy
Who Can Exhaust A Man? Who Knows A Man's Resources?
Philosophical
Men
Resources
Objects Should Not Touch Because They Are Not Alive. You Use Them, Put Them Back In Place, You Live Among Them: They Are Useful, Nothing More. But They Touch Me, It Is Unbearable. I Am Afraid Of Being In Contact With Them As Though They Were Living Beasts.
Nausea
Alive
Unbearable
Ah! Do Not Judge The Gods, Young Man, They Have Painful Secrets.
Men
Judging
Secret
Once Freedom Lights Its Beacon In Man's Heart, The Gods Are Powerless Against Him.
Heart
Men
Light
With Despair, True Optimism Begins: The Optimism Of The Man Who Expects Nothing, Who Knows He Has No Rights And Nothing Coming To Him, Who Rejoices In Counting On Himself Alone And In Acting Alone For The Good Of All.
Men
Rights
Optimism
Genius Is What A Man Invents When He Is Looking For A Way Out.
Men
Genius
Way
I Am Neither Virgin Nor Priest Enough To Play With The Inner Life.
Play
Enough
Priests
The Consciousness That Says 'i Am' Is Not The Consciousness That Thinks.
Thinking
Consciousness
I Considered Calmly That I Was Born To Write.
Writing
Born
It Is Certain That We Cannot Escape Anguish, For We Are Anguish.
Existentialism
Certain
Anguish
Being Is. Being Is In-itself. Being Is What It Is.
Philosophical
Meaning Of Life
Better A Good Journalist Than A Poor Assassin.
Assassins
Poor
Good Journalism
The Past Is The Luxury Of Proprietors.
Past
Luxury
In A Country Lacking Leaders, In Africa, For Instance, How Could A Native Educated In Europe Refuse To Become A Professor, Even At The Price Of His Literary Vocation?
Country
Europe
Leader
Your Scare Me Rather. My Reflection In The Glass Never Did That; Of Course, I Knew It So Well. Like Something I Had Tamed...i'm Going To Smile, And My Smile Will Sink Down Into Your Pupils, And Heaven Knows What It Will Become.
Reflection
Glasses
Heaven
If You Seek Authenticity For Authenticity's Sake You Are No Longer Authentic.
Sake
Authenticity
Ifs
I Needed To Justify My Existence, And I Had Made An Absolute Of Literature. It Took Me Thirty Years To Get Rid Of This State Of Mind.
Years
Mind
Literature
My Eyes Feel All Soft, All Soft As Flesh. I'm Going To Sleep.
Sleep
Eye
Flesh
Man Is Condemned To Be Free; Because Once Thrown Into The World, He Is Responsible For Everything He Does.
Life
Freedom
Responsibility
Things Are Entirely What They Appear To Be And Behind Them... There Is Nothing.
Spiritual
Spirituality
Behinds
The Sun Is Not Ridiculous, Quite The Contrary. On Everything I Like, On The Rust Of The Construction Girders, On The Rotten Boards Of The Fence, A Miserly, Uncertain Light Falls, Like The Look You Give, After A Sleepless Night, On Decisions Made With Enthusiasm The Day Before, On Pages You Have Written In One Spurt Without Crossing Out A Word.
Fall
Night
Light
It Is The Same: A Chosen One Is A Man Whom God's Finger Crushes Against The Wall.
Crush
Wall
Men
The Poor Don't Know That Their Function In Life Is To Exercise Our Generosity.
Life
Exercise
Generosity
You See, I'm Fond Of Teasing, It's A Second Nature With Me—and I'm Used To Teasing Myself. Plaguing Myself, If You Prefer; I Don't Tease Nicely.
Tease
Used
Ifs
To Believe Is To Know You Believe, And To Know You Believe Is Not To Believe.
Spiritual
Atheist
Believe
I Am. I Am, I Exist, I Think, Therefore I Am; I Am Because I Think, Why Do I Think? I Don't Want To Think Any More, I Am Because I Think That I Don't Want To Be, I Think That I . . . Because . . . Ugh!
Thinking
Ugh
Want
To Whomever Gives A Kiss Or A Blow Render A Kiss Or Blow But To Whomever Gives When You Are Unable To Return Offer All The Hatred In Your Heart For You Were Slaves And He Enslaves You
Heart
Kissing
Blow
It Is Not Right, My Fellow-countrymen, You Who Know Very Well All The Crimes Committed In Our Name. It's Not At All Right That You Do Not Breathe A Word About Them To Anyone, Not Even To Your Own Soul, For Fear Of Having To Stand In Judgment Of Yourself. I Am Willing To Believe That At The Beginning You Did Not Realize What Was Happening; Later, You Doubted Whether Such Things Could Be True; But Now You Know, And Still You Hold Your Tongues.
Believe
Names
Soul
At That Time [1954], As A Result Of Political Events, I Was Deeply Preoccupied By My Relations With The Communist Party.
Party
Political
Events
But For Me There Is Neither Monday Nor Sunday: There Are Days Which Pass In Disorder, And Then, Sudden Lightning Like This One. Nothing Has Changed And Yet Everything Is Different. I Can't Describe It, It's Like The Nausea And Yet It's Just The Opposite: At Last An Adventure Happens To Me And When I Question Myself I See That It Happens That I Am Myself And That I Am Here; I Am The One Who Splits In The Night, I Am As Happy As The Hero Of A Novel.
Monday
Hero
Adventure
Criticism Often Takes From The Tree Caterpillars And Blossoms Together.
Tree
Criticism
Together
We Do Not Know What We Want And Yet We Are Responsible For What We Are - That Is The Fact.
Philosophy
Philosophical
Want
L'homme Est Une Passion Inutile. Man Is A Useless Passion.
Passion
Men
Useless
I Wrote In Les Mots That "i Have Often Thought Against Myself." That Sentence Has Not Been Understood Either. Critics Have Seen In It A Confession Of Masochism. But That Is How One Should Think: Revolting Against Everything "inculcated'' That One May Have Within Oneself.
Thinking
May
Confession
I Can Always Choose, But I Ought To Know That If I Do Not Choose, I Am Still Choosing.
Stills
Ought
Knows
We Must Act Out Passion Before We Can Feel It.
Inspirational
Philosophical
Passion
The Recent Experiences Of Pocketbooks Prove This. I Have Changed My Public Since My Works Have Been Published In A Smaller Format.
Changed
Prove
Format
There Is Only One Day Left, Always Starting Over: It Is Given To Us At Dawn And Taken Away From Us At Dusk.
Philosophical
Taken
Sunset
Several Hours Or Several Years Make No Difference Once You Have Lost Eternity.
Years
Differences
Hours
As For The Square At Meknes, Where I Used To Go Every Day, It's Even Simpler: I Do Not See It At All Anymore. All That Remains Is The Vague Feeling That It Was Charming, And These Five Words That Are Indivisibly Bound Together: A Charming Square At Meknes. ... I Don't See Anything Any More: I Can Search The Past In Vain, I Can Only Find These Scraps Of Images And I Am Not Sure What They Represent, Whether They Are Memories Or Just Fiction.
Memories
Past
Squares
Intellectuals Cannot Be Good Revolutionaries; They Are Just Good Enough To Be Assassins.
Assassins
Revolutionary
Enough
Criminals Together. We're In Hell, My Little Friend, And There's Never Any Mistake There. People Are Not Damned For Nothing.
Mistake
People
Together
The Painful Secret Of Gods And Kings Is That Men Are Free, Aegistheus. You Know It And They Do Not.
Kings
Men
Secret
Man Is What He Wills Himself To Be.
Men
No Exit
This Desire [to Write] Is Rather Strange All The Same And Is Not Without A Certain "cracked" Quality.
Writing
Desire
Quality
I Had Found My Religion: Nothing Seemed More Important To Me Than A Book. I Saw The Library As A Temple.
Book
Important
Library
Never Have I Thought That I Was The Happy Possessor Of A "talent;" My Sole Concern Has Been To Save Myself By Work And Faith.
Happiness
Faith
Talent
Our Responsibility Is Much Greater Than We Might Have Supposed, Because It Involves All Mankind.
Responsibility
Might
Existentialism
To Read A Poem In January Is As Lovely As To Go For A Walk In June
Summer
June
Lovely
And I Too Wanted To Be. That Is All I Wanted; And This Is The Last Word. At The Bottom Of All These Attempts Which Seemed Without Bounds, I Find The Same Desire Again: To Drive Existence Out Of Me, To Rid The Passing Moments Of Their Fat, To Twist Them, Dry Them, Purify Myself, Harden Myself, To Give Back At Last The Sharp, Precise Sound Of A Saxophone Note. That Could Even Make An Apologue: There Was A Poor Man Who Got In The Wrong World.
Men
Giving
Desire
In The Nineteenth Century One Had To Give All Sorts Of Guarantees And Lead An Exemplary Life In Order To Cleanse Oneself In The Eyes Of The Bourgeois Of The Sin Of Writing, For Literature Is, In Essence, Heresy. The Situation Has Not Changed Except That It Is Now The Communists, That Is, The Qualified Representatives Of The Proletariat, Who As A Matter Of Principle Regard The Writer As Suspect.
Writing
Eye
Order
[lost Of The Absolute] Is In This Sense That ''i No Longer Know What To Do With My Life" Must Be Understood. Critics Have Been Mistaken About The Meaning Of This Phrase, Seeing In It A Cry Of Despair As In Simone De Beauvoir's "i Have Been Cheated." When She Uses This Word It Is To Indicate That She Claims From Life An Absolute Which She Cannot Find There.
Despair
Phrases
Use
It Is Disgusting -- Why Must We Have Bodies?
Body
Disgusting
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