Jean-Paul Sartre — Quote from Situations
“Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.”
Situations (1947)
Concepts: freedom, agency, oppression
Resonant Quotes
- “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex Both quotes articulate the existentialist principle that human identity emerges through active response to given cond...
- “What is a rebel? A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunc...” — Albert Camus, The Rebel These existentialist thinkers converge on the idea that authentic human freedom emerges precisely through our active ...
- “The purpose of psychotherapy is not to make people adjusted but to set them f...” — Rollo May, Man's Search for Himself Both quotes articulate freedom not as escape from conditions but as authentic response to them—Sartre through existen...
- “Liberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful one. The man or woman who emer...” — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed Sartre's freedom as response to circumstances and Freire's liberation as painful birth both refuse the idea that free...
- “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free tha...” — Albert Camus, The Rebel Both existentialists locate authentic freedom not in external conditions but in the radical stance we take toward our...
- “The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against opp...” — bell hooks, Outlaw Culture Both philosophers locate freedom in active choice and resistance—hooks positions love as the transformative choice th...
- “To be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our concrete reality...” — bell hooks, Feminism Is for Everybody Both quotes articulate a dialectical relationship between constraint and possibility—hooks between concrete reality a...
- “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols Both locate human empowerment precisely in our response to adversity, where Nietzsche's strengthening through sufferi...