Painterly compass beside a narrow glowing doorway in a dark freestanding wall.

Original artwork, not a still

Jean-Paul Sartre

Everything has been figured out, except how to live.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker suggests that human knowledge has answered nearly every question, leaving only the most personal one open: how a person should actually live. The remark is wry and a little bleak, since it implies that facts and explanations do not settle the problem of living.

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