What I lacked [in La Nausee] was a sense of reality. I have changed since. I have slowly learned to experience reality.

What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world-and defines himself afterward.

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.

If you seek authenticity for authenticity's sake you are no longer authentic.

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.

Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.

What then did you expect when you unbound the gag that muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when those heads that our fathers had forcibly bowed down to the ground were raised again, you would find adoration in their eyes?