"All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure"
- Jean-Paul Sartre
About this Quote
Jean-Paul Sartre's quote recommends that all human actions are ultimately futile and will inevitably cause failure. This is because, according to Sartre, all human actions are based upon concepts that are ultimately flawed and doomed to stop working. This idea is in line with Sartre's existentialist viewpoint, which specifies that life is ultimately useless and that human beings are eventually accountable for their own actions and their own fate. Sartre's quote indicates that no matter what actions human beings take, they will ultimately stop working since the concepts on which they are based are flawed. This idea can be seen as a pessimistic view of human life, as it suggests that no matter what human beings do, they will ultimately fail. Nevertheless, it can likewise be viewed as a call to action, as it encourages human beings to take obligation for their actions and to aim to reconcile their lives regardless of the reality that they are doomed to fail.
"A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it"