"All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure"

Jean-Paul Sartre’s assertion that all human actions are equivalent and doomed to failure reflects a core principle of existentialist thought: the profound absurdity and lack of inherent meaning in human existence. For Sartre, no external or predetermined structure exists to impart true hierarchy or value to our choices, every deed, whether lauded by society or ignored, ultimately shares the same ontological status. Human actions do not carry an intrinsic significance bestowed by the universe; rather, their value is a fleeting, subjective construction arising from individual perspective and collective illusion.

The equivalence Sartre attributes to actions emerges from his conviction that life lacks ultimate purpose. Although culture and morality attempt to ascribe importance to certain decisions or lifestyles, these frameworks are artificial and contingent, not rooted in any objective order. Political activism, creating art, expressing love, or merely surviving, all are expressions of individual freedom set within a fundamentally indifferent universe. No action can guarantee redemption, permanence, or the realization of a fixed essence. Instead, each decision dissolves in the grand expanse of time, susceptible to misunderstanding, negation, or oblivion.

By stating that all actions are doomed to failure, Sartre does not advocate despair but exposes the radical freedom and responsibility every individual bears. Failure is inevitable because every action is incomplete, misconstrued, or ultimately powerless against mortality and chaos. The quest for lasting meaning or guaranteed success founders upon the impossibility of total fulfillment or universal recognition. Rather than a call to nihilism, Sartre’s words invite a lucid acceptance of the world as it is: uncertain, mutable, and open to creation. Emancipated from illusions, the individual must act authentically, aware that significance arises solely from one’s own choices, even as they are destined to fragment and fade. The challenge is to confront this relentless ambiguity with honesty and courage, forging meaning in a world that offers none.