Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual weakness within the immense collectivity, the fact remains that we are absolutely free today if we choose to will our existence in its finiteness, a finiteness which is open on the infinite. And in fact, any man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires, and real will knows quite well that he has no need of any outside guarantee to be sure of his goals; their certitude comes from his own drive.

I take on a shape and an existence only if I first throw myself into the world by loving, by doing.

The individuals who seem to us most outstanding, who are honored with the name of genius, are those who have proposed to enact the fate of all humanity in their personal existences.

I realized that even if we went on talking till Judgment Day, I would still find the time all too short.

it is true that nothing is gained without something being lost: everyone knows that in fulfilling oneself one necessarily sacrifices some possibilities.

He formed his sentences hesitantly and then threw them at me with such force that I felt as if I were receiving a present each time

Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female - whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male.