Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes on Politics
Jean-Paul Sartre was a 20th-century French philosopher, playwright, novelist, and political activist, the leading public exponent of existentialism in the post-war period. This page collects quotes attributed to Jean-Paul Sartre on the topic of politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“Imagination is not an empirical or superadded power of consciousness, it is the whole of consciousness as it realizes its freedom .”
L'imagination ( Imagination: A Psychological Critique ) (1936) -
“I do not give a damn about the dead. They died for the [Communist] Party and the Party can decide what it wants. I practice a live man's politics, for the living.”
Dirty Hands(1948) | Act 5, sc. 3 -
“For Genet, reflective states of mind are the rule. And although they are of an unstable nature in everyone, in him...reflection is always contrary to the reflected feeling.”
Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr(1952) | p. 278 -
“Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.”
Dirty Hands(1948) | Act 5, sc. 2 -
“If we must absolutely mention this state of affairs, I suggest that we call ourselves "absent", that is more proper.”
No Exit(1944) | Estelle, refusing to use the word "dead", Act 1, sc. 5