There are two kinds of existentialist; first, those who are Christian...and on the other hand the atheistic existentialists, among whom...I class myself. What they have in common is that they think that existence precedes essence, or, if you prefer, that subjectivity must be the turning point.

At that time [1954], as a result of political events, I was deeply preoccupied by my relations with the Communist Party.

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.

I do not believe in God; his existence has been disproved by Science. But in the concentration camp, I learned to believe in men.

What is life but an unpleasant interruption to a peaceful nonexistence.

I have no need for good souls: an accomplice is what I wanted.

The characteristic of every neurosis is to represent itself as natural.