Consciousness is a being the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness of its being.

The For-itself, in fact, is nothing but the pure nihilation of the In-itself; it is like a hole of being at the heart of Being.

The appearance of the other in the world corresponds therefore to a congealed sliding of the whole universe.

A pale reflection of myself wavers in my consciousness...and suddenly the “I” pales, pales, and fades out.

We are now in a position to understand the anti-Semite. He is a man who is afraid. Not of the Jews, to be sure, but of himself, of his own consciousness, of his liberty, of his instincts, of his responsibilities, of solitariness, of change, of society, and of the world of everything except the Jews.

Some men are born committed to action: they do not have a choice, they have been thrown on a path, at the end of that path, an act awaits them, their act.

Ideas come in pairs and they contradict one another; their opposition is the principal engine of reflection.