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A curated collection of existential quotes that address the nature of being, meaning, freedom, and the beautiful absurdity of existence.
Have you ever found yourself staring up at the night sky, suddenly struck by the vastness of it all? In that moment, the noise of daily life fades, and a set of questions bubbles to the surface: Who am I, really? What is the point of all my striving? Am I living a life that is truly worthy?
If you’ve ever felt that before, you’ve touched the heart of existential thought.
At its core, existentialism starts with a radical idea: the universe does not hand us a pre-written script or a set of neat answers. We are the artists of our own lives; our purpose is, therefore, something we must establish from the materials of our freedom, choices, and experiences.
The existential quotes here are not meant to be definitive answers. Instead, think of them as companions for your journey. Let them comfort you, challenge you, and above all, remind you that the power to create a meaningful life rests entirely in your hands!
Highlights
- The list below revolves around the main themes of existentialism, from the responsibility of freedom and the challenge of creating meaning to the mysteries of life, death, and authenticity.
- These words from thinkers, writers, and artists are intended not as definitive answers, but as philosophical companions – prompts for self-reflection, tools for reframing your perspective, and a reminder that you are not alone in asking these questions.
- Each quote is paired with a short, personal elaboration designed to spark further thought, making this more than just a list, but an invitation to a deeper conversation with yourself about what it means to truly live!
Short Existential Quotes
Existence precedes essence.
Jean-Paul Sartre
One motto of existentialism that is widely accepted (or at least considered true – to a certain extent) is the emphasis on the individual’s freedom. Specifically, humanity is not born with a defined purpose, like a knife is made to cut. Rather, through the act of living, we eventually decide who we are.
I rebel; therefore I exist.
Albert Camus
To struggle, to question, to push back against the absurd, to refuse to be a passive observer – these acts of “rebellion” are the highest affirmation of a conscious life.
Existential phrase
Become who you are.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The person one is meant to be is not something to be found, but to be created. It requires shedding the layers of social expectation to uncover and build upon one’s most authentic self.
What labels me, negates me.
Søren Kierkegaard
To be comfortable with an idea – even a positive one – is to accept a limitation and trade one’s infinite potential for a simple, finite definition, hence preventing one from further growing and “transcending” to other “dimensions”.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates
Indeed. To drift through life without ever asking why you believe what you believe or do what you do is to miss the point of consciousness entirely. Self-discovery begins with self-interrogation.
Inspiring Existential Quotes
He who has a “why” to live for can bear almost any “how.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
A clear sense of purpose acts as a compass through life’s inevitable storms. When the reason for the journey is strong enough, the difficulty of the path becomes secondary.
The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously!
Friedrich Nietzsche
We are all invited to leave the harbor of certainty – by venturing out of our comfort zone, embracing risks, challenging our limits, and fully engaging with the unpredictable nature of life.
The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Growth is a constant process of shedding old selves and outdated beliefs. To cling rigidly to who one once was is to stagnate and, in a sense, to stop living.
Good existential quotes
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every day presents a subtle pressure to conform and fit in. And yet, it doesn’t negate the necessity of remaining true to one’s own inner compass.
Read more: 155 Quotes About Identity & Self – Mirrors of the Soul
If something burns your soul with purpose and desire, it’s your duty to be reduced to ashes by it. Any other form of existence will be yet another dull book in the library of life.
Charles Bukowski
Don’t shy away from your passions, even if they seem intimidating now. A life lived with burning intensity, even if it involves a lot of stumbles and falls, is much more meaningful than one of cautious and uninspired safety.
There are two ways to meet life; you may refuse to care until indifference becomes a habit, a defensive armor, and you are safe – but bored. Or you can care greatly, live greatly, until life breaks you on its wheel.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
To embrace hollow safety, or to engage wholeheartedly with life – even when faced with the risk of pain? A difficult choice to make. What is more important – to make a living, or to live?
Maman used to say that you can always find something to be happy about. In my prison, when the sky turned red and a new day slipped into my cell, I found out that she was right.
Albert Camus, ‘The Stranger’
Even when stripped of freedoms and comfort, in the most absurd of circumstances, the human mind is still capable of finding a sliver of beauty – and escaping from the grip of despair, even for just a fleeting moment.
Read more: 100 Happy Life Quotes to Illuminate the Day & Warm the Soul
Sad Existential Quotes
In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone more, in the midst of nothingness!
Samuel Beckett, ‘Waiting for Godot’
All things are impermanent. Realizing that everything we cherish and strive for will one day be swept away may leave some of us with a sense of disheartening solitude.
Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.
James Baldwin
The beauty of a sunrise is tinged with the sadness of its inevitable end. Our mortality is woven into the fabric of nature’s cycles, a beautiful and heartbreaking truth.
Depressing existential quotes
Existential Quotes on Anxiety & Despair
Life begins on the other side of despair.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Hitting rock bottom is not just an end, but a potential beginning. It is only after one lets go of all illusions and attachments that one is free to build a life on a foundation of authentic truth.
If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Be mindful when confronting the darkness in the world or in yourself. To understand it, you must engage with it, but in that engagement, it will inevitably leave its mark on you.
Famous existential quotes
I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations – one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it – you will regret both.
Søren Kierkegaard
Over-analyzing every option is likely to lead to a state of paralysis, a realization that every path chosen means another is lost. Sometimes, the anguish isn’t in making the wrong choice, but in the act of choosing itself.
Existentialism and human emotion quotes
No doubt I do act in ‘bad faith’ when I deliberately avoid facing an honest decision and follow the conventional pattern of behavior in order to be spared the anxiety that comes when one is… thrown into seventy thousand fathoms.
John Macquarrie
It is so tempting to let society dictate our paths, to play a role we think we are supposed to play. This is the essence of “bad faith” – a type of self-deception we perform to escape the burden of our own freedom.
Pain is the price we pay for being alive. Dead cells – our hair, our fingernails – can’t feel pain; they cannot feel anything. When we understand that, our question will change from, “Why do we have to feel pain?” to “What do we do with our pain so that it becomes meaningful and not just pointless empty suffering? How can we turn all the painful experiences of our lives into birth pangs or into growing pains?”
Harold Kushner
Feeling pain is a sign of life, not a flaw in it. The challenge, then, isn’t to avoid suffering, but to find meaning in it. Ask yourself: how can this hurt become a source of strength, wisdom, or compassion?
Read more: 120 Overcoming Sadness Quotes – From Sorrow to Strength
Existential Crisis Quotes
Why am I me and not somebody else?
Nemo Nobody, ‘Mr. Nobody’ (2009)
There seems to be no logical reason for being this specific consciousness in this specific body; maybe it’s just an accident of the universe. Or is it?
Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee? But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.
Albert Camus
In the face of cosmic meaninglessness, we still have the choice to engage in the next small act.
To be, or not to be – that is the question
Shakespeare, ‘Hamlet’, Act 3, Scene 1
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep.
Which is nobler – to endure the endless pains of life passively, or to take action and potentially “perish” as a result?
What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Phil Connors, ‘Groundhog Day’ (1993)
When external progress and consequences are removed, what is left? The only possible escape from this cyclical hell is to turn inward, to find meaning not in changing the world, but in changing oneself.
Read more: 145 Suffering Quotes – Finding Light in the Darkness
Existential dread quotes
Existential Nihilism Quotes
I understand that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist.
John Champlin Gardner Jr., ‘Grendel’
When one adopts the outlook of an outsider, it’s natural for one to look at the world and see only random violence and noise. In this isolation, the only reality is one’s own consciousness against a seemingly meaningless backdrop.
Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
A starting point of any existential crisis – when one comes to the conclusion that nothing they do really matter in the end.
I saw the tears of the oppressed – and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors – and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
It’s tempting for many of us to fall into despair and desire for non-existence as we witness unrelenting and unjust suffering in the world. And yet, is the idea of non-existence even possible in the beginning?
Dark existential quotes
Existential Psychology & Therapy Quotes
The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
Carl Rogers
Transformation doesn’t come from self-rejection, but from self-acceptance. You cannot heal or grow from a place you refuse to acknowledge. Change begins with an honest and compassionate “I am here.”
What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.
Abraham Maslow
We act based on who we believe we are. To create lasting change, we must first update that internal self-portrait, expanding the perception of our own capabilities and identity.
Life cannot be lived nor can death be faced without anxiety. Anxiety is guide as well as enemy and can point the way to authentic existence. The task of the therapist is to reduce anxiety to comfortable levels and then to use this existing anxiety to increase a patient’s awareness and vitality.
Irvin D. Yalom, ‘Existential Psychotherapy’
Anxiety is an inherent part of being a finite, free being. Instead of silencing it, listen to what it’s telling you about what truly matters and where you feel your freedom is at stake.
Existential therapy quotes
Decision invariably involves renunciation: for every yes there must be a no, each decision eliminating or killing other options.
Irvin D. Yalom
Every choice is also a loss. To commit to one path is to kill the infinite other possibilities, and the weight of that sacrifice is an inevitable part of making a meaningful decision.
One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
Carl Jung
Personal growth does not mean ignoring our flaws or negative aspects – the “shadow self.” We must have the courage to face them, understand them, and integrate them into a more complete and authentic whole.
Read more: 50 Facing Fears Quotes – Unleash the Power Within
Existential psychology quotes
Freedom without compassion is demoniacal. Without compassion, freedom can be self-righteous, inhuman, self-centered, and cruel.
Rollo May
Absolute freedom, exercised without regard for others, only creates a destructive force. It must, therefore, be balanced with empathy and the realization of one’s place in the web of human connection.
Existential Philosophy Quotes
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
Reality is not a passive reception of facts; it is an active act of perception and interpretation. Two people can look at the exact same thing and see entirely different worlds based on their inner state.
Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism.
Jean-Paul Sartre
One thing most existentialists agree with is that there is no pre-written script for one’s life. Each of us is the author, director, and lead actor, creating our character through the sum of our choices and actions.
Quotes about existentialism
Who also accuse existentialism of being too gloomy, it makes me wonder if what they are really annoyed about is not its pessimism, but rather its optimism.
Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘Existentialism is a Humanism’
The idea that we are completely responsible for our lives may indeed sound terrifying. That is why many of us resort to making excuses, blaming fate, passing the buck, conforming blindly to the norms, or running away from reality.
Existential quotes
There are no facts, only interpretations.
Friedrich Nietzsche
We can never grasp a purely objective reality, separate from our own minds. Everything we experience is filtered through our personal history, biases, and language, creating a world of subjective meaning.
What is meaningful cannot in fact be isolated… We achieve understanding within a circular movement from particular facts to the whole that includes them and back again from the whole thus reached to the particular significant facts.
Karl Jaspers
Meaning isn’t found in a straight line. We realize the big picture by looking at the details, and we understand the details by seeing how they fit into the big picture. It’s an ongoing interaction between the specific and the whole.
A mystery is a problem that encroaches upon itself because the questioner becomes the object of the question. Getting to Mars is a problem. Falling in love is a mystery.
Gabriel Marcel
A problem is something external that can be solved with data and technology. A mystery, on the other hand, is something one is a part of; it cannot be solved, only experienced and participated in. Life’s most important questions are mysteries, not problems.
Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.
Friedrich Nietzsche
A conviction, held with absolute certainty, closes the mind to any new evidence or inquiry. In rigidly clinging to it, one becomes trapped within their own prison and denies themselves the chance to reach new “shores”.
Deep quotes about existentialism
Existential Quotes about Time
Life must be understood backward. But it must be lived forward.
Søren Kierkegaard
In retrospect, the path of one’s life might seem to have a clear narrative and logic. Yet, in the present moment, you are always stepping into a completely unknown future, making choices without knowing their ultimate outcome.
O gentlemen, the time of life is short!
William Shakespeare, ‘Henry IV’, Act 5, Scene 2
To spend that shortness basely were too long
If life did ride upon a dial’s point
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
Life is far too brief to be wasted on trivialities, cowardice, or inauthenticity. Even a single hour spent in a meaningless way is an immense waste.
Time is an absurdity. An abstraction. The only thing that matters is this moment.
Jonathan Nolan
Many of us are trapped by the ghosts of the past and anxieties for the future, yet neither is real. All existence is compressed into the now; this very moment is the only place one may ever truly live.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
Heraclitus
Everything is in a constant state of flux, including you. The person you were a moment ago is gone forever, and the world is constantly changing around you. To live wisely is to embrace this ceaseless flow, not to resist it.
The flow of river is ceaseless and its water is never the same.
Kamo no Chomei
Holding onto moments, people, or possessions is as futile as trying to hold water in one’s hands. Just appreciate things as they pass, and one will know peace.
Read more: 85 Embracing Change Quotes – Thriving in Transformation
Existentialism Quotes about Life
Everything has been figured out, except how to live.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Humanity has mastered science, engineering, and logic, yet the most fundamental question remains unanswered for each of us. There is no manual or equation for conducting a meaningful human life; it is a task given to everyone, with no instructions.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
Søren Kierkegaard
Stop treating your life like a math equation or a puzzle to be won. Rather, immerse yourself in the messy, joyful, painful, and unpredictable experience of it all. Once you let go of the need to win at all costs, then you will know what it means to live!
How could you live and have no story to tell?
Fyodor Dostoevsky
A life without risk, passion, failure, and adventure is one that leaves no trace. Your story is the sum of your experiences; make sure it’s one worth telling!
Existential quotes
The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.
Ernest Hemingway
Even amidst all the suffering and absurdity, there remains beauty and goodness in the world. No matter how fleeting they are, we should cherish and strive to preserve them – if not for ourselves, then for humanity as a whole! For our children, for the following generations! Because they are us, and we are them!
You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Do not compartmentalize your existence. Enlightenment comes from seeing the interconnectedness of all things – your joy and your suffering, your work and your play, the sacred and the mundane.
Read more: 57 Hope Quotes to Uplift Spirits & Brighten the Day
Quotes about existence
Existential Quotes about Death
Death is a continuation of my life without me.
Jean-Paul Sartre
The world will not stop when you do. As such, we should be humble enough to move away from the center of the universe and frame our existence as part of a story that is much, much larger.
Since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter.
Albert Camus, ‘The Stranger’
If the end result is the same for everyone, then perhaps one should stop being haunted by the social anxieties, the desperate striving, and the fear of judgment over the details of one’s life.
French existentialism quotes
How tragic that man can never realize how beautiful life is until he is face to face with death.
Novelist, ‘Ikiru’ (1952)
The constant, dull hum of daily routine is what blinds many of us to the miracle of being alive. Only in a moment of crisis – as we confront the inevitability of our own demise – may we be “awakened” and truly see the beauty we once took for granted.
I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid I haven’t been alive enough. It should be written on every school room blackboard: Life is a playground – or nothing.
Nemo Nobody, ‘Mr. Nobody’ (2009)
The ultimate regret is not death itself, but arriving at the end with a feeling of having been an “outsider” all the way. The real fear should be one of omission – the risks not taken, the passions not pursued, the quiet, safe, and empty years.
Read more: 72 Memento Mori Quotes – Remember You’re Mortal!
Existential Quotes about Humanity
Contemporary thinkers would say that man is continuously transcending himself.
Gabriel Marcel
To be human is to be in a constant state of becoming. We are never finished, never a static object, but always a process, reaching beyond our present selves toward a future possibility – a new, higher “dimension” of existence.
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Søren Kierkegaard
It is far easier to shout pre-approved opinions than to do the difficult work of independent thinking. That is why many cling to the external right while neglecting the internal responsibility.
You should make your choices as though you were choosing on behalf of the whole of humanity.
Sarah Bakewell, ‘At the Existentialist Café’
This is a call to embrace one’s personal responsibility. When you choose an action, you are implicitly saying, “This is a good way for a human being to act.” Live in a way that you would be proud to have represent all of us!
Read more: 100 Deep Quotes About Life Choices – Finding Your Path
Quotes about the Absurd & the Indifferent Universe
We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. It’s as simple as that.
Christof, ‘The Truman Show’ (1998)
We are all, in a way, living inside a “TV show” constructed by our culture, our upbringing, and our own assumptions. Questioning the very nature of that “reality” is the first, and most difficult, step toward true freedom.
To live is to risk it all; otherwise, you’re just an inert chunk of randomly assembled molecules drifting wherever the universe blows you.
Rick Sanchez, ‘Rick and Morty’
Choice is the antidote to chaos. Without conscious, risky decisions, one is merely an object subject to the laws of physics. To live is to impose one’s will – to pick a path and accept the consequences that may follow.
The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent, but if we can come to terms with this indifference, then our existence as a species can have genuine meaning. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.
Stanley Kubrick
Even if the universe seems to not care about one’s hope and suffering, one should never, for that reason, stop taking the responsibility to do their best. If one cannot be the source of light, then become a mirror that reflects that light!
Existential Quotes about Meaning
The crucial thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, for which I am willing to live and die.
Søren Kierkegaard
Forget objective, universal truths. What is the passionate, subjective conviction that gives your life its anchor and purpose? That is the truth worth finding.
To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.
Gordon W. Allport, Foreword to the 1962 edition of ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’
Suffering is an unavoidable part of the human experience. The defining human act is not to avoid it, but to find a way to embrace and eventually transcend it!
Life in general has no meaning. Whatever meaning life has must be assigned to it by the individual.
Alfred Adler
We are all born with a blank canvas. It is our responsibility to paint a picture upon it.
Life itself is nothing until it is lived, it is we who give it meaning, and value is nothing more than the meaning that we give it.
Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘Existentialism is a Humanism’
Life, in its raw state, is just a sequence of events. It only becomes “good” or “bad,” “meaningful” or “empty” through the values one chooses to project onto it. You are the sole source of value in your world!
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
Carl Jung
Perhaps our function in the universe is simply to be “conscious”. To be the one part of the cosmos that can witness its own beauty and terror, and in that act of witnessing, create a flicker of meaning in the vast darkness.
Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter so the world will be at least be a little bit different for our having passed through it.
Harold Kushner
One may achieve all the external markers of success and still feel a lingering sense of emptiness inside. This is because the deepest human need is not for comfort, but for a sense of purpose – a feeling that our time here mattered.
We can despair of the meaning of life in general, but not of the particular forms that it takes; we can despair of existence, for we have no power over it, but not of history, where the individual can do everything.
Albert Camus
Don’t get paralyzed by your inability to solve the world’s problems. Focus on the tangible world, on your own life’s story. In that smaller arena, your actions have immense power and can create very real meaning!
Best existential quotes
The knowledge that nothing matters, while accurate, gets you nowhere. The planet is dying. The sun is exploding. The universe is cooling. Nothing’s going to matter. The further back you pull the more that truth will endure. But, when you zoom in on earth, when you zoom in to a family, when you zoom into a human brain and a childhood and experience, you see all these things that matter.
Dan Harmon
From a billion miles away, all is dust. But here, now, in your life, the love for your family, the joy of a good meal, the pain of loss – these things matter intensely, and that is the only scale on which life is actually lived.
Read more: 60 Quotes on the Meaning of Life – Wisdom for Life Pilgrims
Existentialist Quotes on Love
The first duty of love is to listen.
Paul Tillich
Love, in its purest form, involves creating a quiet, open space for the other person’s authentic self to emerge and be seen without judgment.
One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, and compassion.
Simone de Beauvoir
A life lived in pure self-interest will eventually collapse into meaninglessness – however successful it may appear. Only by recognizing and actively caring for others may we solidify the value of our own existence.
That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.
Simone de Beauvoir
When an act of giving is aligned with one’s values, it ceases to feel like a sacrifice – and instead becomes a joyful expression of oneself. It energizes, rather than depletes one.
Read more: 84 Unconditional Love Quotes – Beyond All Limits
Existential Quotes on Freedom, Responsibility & Authenticity
Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Every moment, even in inaction, you are choosing your life and are inescapably responsible for the person you are becoming.
If you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Two distinct paths. One offers comfort and certainty by accepting established beliefs. The other promises authenticity through relentless questioning, even if it exposes one to unsettling and difficult truths. The choice is ours – which one will we tread?
To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
It is better to make your own mistakes, learn from them, and own your decisions, than to perfectly follow a map drawn by someone else. The latter may seem comfortable, but eventually you will end up bored and feeling miserable!
Read more: 77 Learning from Failure Quotes – Moving On from Past Mistakes
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy
Many of us tend to focus our energy on external flaws – in society, in others – while neglecting the inner work. Yet, the only domain where we have true power and responsibility to create change is within ourselves.
Man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is HE who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.
Viktor Frankl
Every circumstance asks, “And what will you do now?” Your answers, through your actions and attitude, become the meaning of your life.
Top existential quotes
Truth is a pathless land.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
You cannot arrive at a conclusion you are comfortable with by following a pre-established religion, guru, or ideology. It must be discovered through your own direct, unmediated awareness and living.
My freedom is not and cannot be something that I observe as I observe an outward fact; rather it must be something that I decide, moreover, without appeal. It is beyond the power of anyone to reject the decision by which I assert my freedom and this assertion is ultimately bound up with the consciousness that I have of myself.
Gabriel Marcel
Freedom isn’t a condition, like the weather, that can be passively noticed. It requires an active, internal commitment, a decision to be the author of one’s actions that must be constantly re-asserted through conscious will.
Adopt an aesthetic rather than a moral attitude to your feeling states. In doing this, you practice being the artist of your life rather than the judge of it.
Carolyn Elliott, ‘Existential Kink’
Instead of labeling your emotions as “good” or “bad,” try to see them as colors on a palette. How can you use this anger, this joy, this sorrow, to create a more interesting, beautiful, and worthy life?
We must always take into account our knowledge that we can destroy ourselves at will, with all our history and perhaps life on earth itself. Nothing stops us but our own free choosing. If we want to survive, we have to decide to live.
Sarah Bakewell, ‘At the Existentialist Café’
Indeed, as within, so without. If we desire to see destruction, that is what will result.
A freedom which is interested only in denying freedom must be denied. And it is not true that the recognition of the freedom of others limits my own freedom: to be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future; the existence of others as a freedom defines my situation and is even the condition of my own freedom. I am oppressed if I am thrown into prison, but not if I am kept from throwing my neighbor into prison.
Simone de Beauvoir, ‘The Ethics of Ambiguity’
Freedom isn’t about limitless, selfish whims. It is the capacity to transcend one’s current situation, past, and limitations – and to act in a way that benefits both oneself and others.
Existential Quotes from Religious & Spiritual Traditions
If God did not exist, everything would be permitted.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
On the surface, this may seem like a celebration, but not quite if one looks at it closely. Without a divine source of morality, what stops humanity from collapsing into chaos? Where do our values truly come from?
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
Martin Buber
One may set out on a path with a clear goal in mind, but the significance of the journey often lies in the self-transformation that occurs along the way (think about how Santiago’s adventure in The Alchemist turned out). Hence, one should always remain open to arriving at a destination one never intended to find!
When we are able to act freely, we can move away from the isolated perspective of the problematic man (“I am body only,”) to that of the participative subject (“I am a being among beings”) who is capable of interaction with others in the world.
Gabriel Marcel
We cannot fully understand ourselves in isolation. Introspection alone is never enough; we should always do our best to reach out to and engage with others. It’s about embracing and cherishing an ‘I-thou’ relationship.
The atheist relies not on an experience but on an idea, or pseudo idea, of God: if God existed, He would have such and such characteristics; but if he had such characteristics, He could not allow etc… His judgment of incompatibility, in fact, is based on a judgment of implications.
Gabriel Marcel
Atheism is typically presented as a lack of belief. But what if it is, after all, just another type of faith – a belief in a human-made idea of what the Divine must be, and a rejection based on that self-constructed definition?
Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that Ultimate Reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.
Paul Tillich
Faith is not simply intellectual agreement with a set of doctrines. It is the state of being gripped by the big questions of life and meaning, a passionate and total engagement with the mystery of existence.
For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Genesis 3:19
As we internalize our material nature and mortality, the superficial ego is stripped away. After all, humanity is only a part of the universe’s timeless cycles.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-9
Life moves in rhythms and cycles beyond one’s control. There is a time for joy and a time for grief, a time for building and a time for letting go. Wisdom, as it turns out, lies in recognizing the “season” one is in and living in harmony with it, rather than fighting it.
Existential quotes
By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one made pure. Purity and impurity depended on oneself; no one can purify another.
Dhammapada, Chapter 12, ‘The Self’
Your moral and spiritual condition is entirely in your own hands. You cannot blame others for your failings, nor can you rely on anyone else for your salvation.
I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.
Upajjhatthana Sutta
The future you will inhabit is the direct result of the decisions you are making right now. You are actively creating the person you will become and the world you will live in.
It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Buddha
The greatest battles are not with external enemies, but with the internal forces of greed, hatred, and ignorance. Mastering one’s own mind is the key to a virtuous existence.
Human life has no meaning, no reason, and no choice, but we have our practice to help us understand our true self. Then, we can change no meaning to Great Meaning, which means Great Love. We can change no reason to Great Reason, which means Great Compassion.
Zen Master Seung Sahn
When faced with an empty, seemingly indifferent universe, the solution is not to think one’s way out, but to act. Through dedicated practice and self-inquiry, the vacuum of meaninglessness can be transformed into a great sense of compassionate connection to all things.
Read more: 45 Inner Peace Quotes – Nourishing Wisdom for Tranquility
Existentialist Quotes from Movies
Life is brief
Kanji Watanabe, ‘Ikiru’ (1952)
Fall in love, maiden
Before the crimson bloom
Fades from your lips
Before the tides of passion
Cool within you
For those of you
Who know no tomorrow.
Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Seize joy, passion, and connection now – before it’s too late! Stop living like a “mummy”!
How important it is in life not necessarily to be strong… but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.
Christopher McCandless, ‘Into the Wild’ (2007)
The true test of life does not lie in objective success, but the subjective experience of testing one’s own limits. To place oneself in a situation that demands everything one has is to truly discover who one is.
Every path is the right path. Everything could’ve been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning.
Nemo Nobody, ‘Mr. Nobody’ (2009)
Do not be haunted by the idea of making the “wrong” choice. Any path you choose can be made meaningful through your commitment to it. The value is created by the living of it, not by the decision itself.
How can we believe in the faithful when we lack faith? What will happen to us who want to believe, but can not? What about those who neither want to nor can believe?
Antonius Block, ‘The Seventh Seal’ (1957)
The constant conflict between the desire for certainty and reality is what causes many of us to succumb to a state of despair. It’s painful, and yet it is also an inherent part of one’s spiritual journey.
Why must their trials be so terrible, and why when I look in my own heart do the answers I give them seem so weak?
Sebastian Rodrigues, ‘Silence‘ (2016)
Indeed, how can one – who has always been within the confines of a peaceful monastery, where everyone speaks the same “truth” – be able to confront reality as it reveals itself? There is, after all, no “glory” in suffering. Only complete silence, and yet, perhaps in that deafening silence may one, for the first time, get in touch with who they really are.
Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested.
Pi Patel, ‘Life of Pi’ (2012)
A faith that has never been questioned is brittle and shallow. It is the wrestling with doubt, the confrontation with challenges, that forges a belief system into something personal, meaningful, and long-lasting.
There are two ways through life: the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow.
Mrs. O’Brien, ‘The Tree of Life’ (2011)
Will we follow the path of self-interest, instinct, and survival (“nature”), or the path of love, forgiveness, and connection (“grace”)? The decision is our; choose wisely!
Read more: 20 Best Existential Movies for the Questioning Heart
Funny Existential Quotes
How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense.
Franz Kafka, ‘The Metamorphosis’
Sometimes, the absurdity of existence is so overwhelming that the most rational response seems to be to just pull the covers over one’s head. But hey, if it’s just for a temporary moment, it’s still worth it, right?
Who am I, Kylie? Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I’m saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I?
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Even a creature driven by pure instinct can still be struck by the bewildering question of its own identity. If we think about it, then we will realize that many times, the search for self-awareness can pop up in the most unexpected of places. Right?
Read more: 55 Self-discovery Quotes – Know Thyself
Final Thoughts
If the universe is indeed a vast, indifferent expanse, it has also, by some miracle, given rise to you – a conscious, feeling being with the power to create light in your own corner of the darkness. Your life is an unwritten story, and the existential quotes above are simply reminders of the freedom you have to write the next sentence.
So, what now? I suppose just choose one idea that lingers with you – one that comforts, irritates, or intrigues you – and carry it into your day. Notice how it colors your perception. Take one small action that feels authentic, a choice made not from habit or expectation, but from your own center!
Other resources you might be interested in:
- 105 Stoic Quotes for a Virtuous & Fulfilling Life
- 100 Quotes About Overcoming Obstacles: Triumph in Adversity
- 140 Introvert Quotes: Embracing Your Quiet Strength
- 50 Push Yourself Quotes to Move Forward
Let’s Tread the Path Together, Shall We?
