What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defin… - Jean-Paul Sartre

What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.

What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world-and defines himself afterward.

...man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards.

Hell is other people

I wanted the moments of my life to follow and order themselves like those of a life remembered.

But faced with this great wrinkled paw, neither ignorance nor knowledge was important: the world of explanations and reasons is not the world of existence.