Existentialism Quotes

People are like dice. We throw ourselves in the direction of our own choosing.

Still, somewhere in the depths of ourselves we all harbor an ashamed, unsatisfied melancholy that quietly awaits a funeral.

If the immediate and direct purpose of our life is not suffering then our existence is the most ill-adapted to its purpose in the world.

It is intoxicating joy for the sufferer to look away from his suffering and to forget himself.

Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Par

The question of being is the darkest in all philosophy.

Life has no meaning a priori… It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.

A little more and I would have fallen into the mirror trap. I avoided it, but only to fall into the window trap: with nothing to do, my arms dangling, I go over to the window.

The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives.

CLOV:Do you believe in the life to come?HAMM:Mine was always that.

bullshit french post-war rationalizing

Existentialism's first move is to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him.

[E]very man ought to say to himself, "Am I really the kind of man who has the right to act in such a way that humanity might guide itself by my actions?

Pure logic is the impossibility by means of which science is maintained.

...freedom only gives you something to be sorry for.

It's like practicing pole vaulting your entire life, and then getting to the olympics and saying, ‘what the hell did I want to jump over this stupid bar for?

HAMM:Scoundrel! Why did you engender me?NAGG:I didn't know.HAMM:What? What didn't you know?NAGG:That it'd be you.(Pause.)

With older people, it's quite different. They're reliable, they show you what to do, and there's solidity in their affection.

Youth's longing misconceived inconsistency.Those whom I deemedChanged to my kin, the friends of whom I dreamed, Have aged and lost our old affinity:One has to change to stay akin to me.

I had come to regard him as a loner with no real past and a future so vague that there was no sense talking about it.

I see the insipid flesh blossoming and palpitating with abandon.

Au milieu de l'hiver, j'ai découvert en moi un invincible été.

Mother used to say that however miserable one is, there’s always something to be thankful for. And each morning, when the sky brightened and light began to flood my cell, I agreed with her.

What matters creative endless toil, When, at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil?

Part of being of a true existentialist is wanting to be what we make ourselves be by the way we choose to act, as opposed to making excuses for the way we act and regretting it.

Hard as it may sound, no god has saved anything or anyone in human history. It is the humans who have done so.

[Y]ou are here to learn something. Don’t try to figure out what it is. This can be frustrating and unproductive.

Human logic may be rationally adequate, but it is also existentially deficient. Faith declares that there is more than this - not contradicting, but transcending reason.

The Self is the measure of everything.

Good gods are scarce because the majority of gods are created by evil men

Every word that comes after "And the Lord told me. . . “is a pious lie

Some people are so stiff and inhumane as the dogma's they believe in

Give me something to worship whatever.” Cries the human soul

Spiritual leaders, priests and prophets are lamps burning in the dark, seeking meaning for humanity.

Science cannot disprove god. Science studies the things that are. The eternal question is who or what made them to be

Can really anybody put his hand on his heart and profess to know beyond doubt what happens on the other side of this life?

There is nothing behind the curtains of religions, people put there whatever their imaginations can fathom

Once you believe that god is not a private property of anybody, you are on your way to becoming a new messiah. Maybe your own if not the world's

Theology is like assuming that there is a black cat in a dark room where in fact there is no black cat, and endeavoring to study the cat's properties and how it may have evolved from its ancestors.

The eyes of god are upon you, I mean the eyes of society. We are prisoners of societies in which we live

Each mind conceives god in its own way. There may be as many variation of the god figure as there are people in the world

God has not yet revealed himself to no one in no unclear terms. Religions are attempts to find him on that level they are all equal

Much terror in religion is not the will of god, it is created by power hungry clerics who thirst for absolute power and claim it for god. God does not seek power, he is already powerful.

No one knows what god thinks of anything. He only knows and no one can claim to penetrate into his mysteries. Those who do that are liars and must be avoided at all costs

It's utter arrogance to think that we can know what god ought to be or do. If we don't understand we must continue our search or recognize our ignorance

All religions are "revealed" and "inspired". After all nothing happens without the "will" of god.

An atheist is a disappointed true believer he is an angry and hungry soul who has failed to find a real god to whom he can anchor his hope

All religions are man-made God has not yet revealed himself beyond doubt to anybody.

When you have doubts about God, the right position to take is agnosticism, atheism is outright arrogance

The more time you invest into studying religion, the more likely you are to disbelieve in the gods