We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us.

More from Jean-Paul Sartre

• Everything has been figured out, except how to live.
• Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.
• Man is not the sum of what he has already, but rather the sum of what he does not yet have, of what he could have.
• The existentialist says at once that man is anguish.
• There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is- other people!
• To forget about the others? How utterly absurd! I feel you there, in every pore. Your silence clamors in my ears. You can nail up your mouth, cut your tongue out- but you can’t prevent your being there.