“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.”

“What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.”

“Existence is prior to essence.”

“As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished.”

“all of us abandon ourselves to existence, because we were amongourselves, only among ourselves, it has taken us unawares, in the disorder, the day to day drift: I amashamed for myself and for what exists in front of it.”

“Man is what he wills himself to be.”

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”