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Meaning
The quote suggests that an act of killing can seem detached and theoretical until it is carried out. Once the trigger is pulled, the consequences become uncontrollable and no longer fully understood. It highlights how moral choices can move from abstraction into confusion and reality.
When It Was Said
1948
Who It Was Said To
Not documented yet.
Historical Context
Listed on Wikiquote with the citation “Act 5, sc. 2.”
Source
Act 5, sc. 2
Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
Did They Really Say It?
Listed with a cited source on Wikiquote: Act 5, sc. 2.
Did You Know?
Wikiquote lists it in the section “Quotes > Dirty Hands (1948)” with the citation “Act 5, sc. 2.”
About Jean-Paul Sartre
French philosopher, political activist, and writer
Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher, political activist, and writer. He was a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism, and one of the central thinkers associated with existentialism. He also supported Libertarian Marxism, and his work went on to shape sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. In 1964, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he tried to refuse it, saying that he usually declined official honors and that a writer should not become an institution.
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READ THE SOURCE
Books by Jean-Paul Sartre
La nausée
2005
No Exit (and Three Other Plays)
1987
Words
1970
Sursis
1973
Iron In The Soul
1972