"Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience."

Experience

Create & Download Quote Image

Customize Design

Theme Color

Insight & Reflection

This reflection on experience by Jean-Paul Sartre resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in experience is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, political activist, and writer, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and was a proponent of Libertarian Marxism. His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution".

More quotes by Jean-Paul Sartre →
Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the ShortQuote Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Jean-Paul Sartre

"When rich people fight wars with one another, poor people are the ones to die."

— Jean-Paul Sartre
Read more →

"If literature isn't everything, it's not worth a single hour of someone's trouble."

— Jean-Paul Sartre
Read more →

"One is still what one is going to cease to be and already what one is going to become. One lives one's death, one dies one's life."

— Jean-Paul Sartre
Read more →

More about Experience

"I got my first big paycheck for 'My Best Friend's Wedding.' This was in the days when you actually did get paid to have a supporting role. It just doesn't happen like that anymore, but this was in the '90s. It was the golden age!"

— Carrie Preston
Read more →

"I refuse to consign the whole male sex to the nursery. I insist on believing that some men are my equals."

— Brigid Brophy
Read more →

"Little opportunities should be improved."

— Francois Fenelon
Read more →

"I know there are people who don't like their audience or like the experience of being recognized or celebrated, but my audience has been very good - they don't bother me and when they do contact me it's usually on the nicest possible terms."

— James Taylor
Read more →
View all Experience quotes →