--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sartre, in his memoirs, confessed to much…" description: "\"“Sartre, in his memoirs, confessed to much the same experience. \"Like Plato, I passed from knowledge to its subject. I found more reality in the idea t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95a/alberto-manguel-2467_knowledge_sartre-in-his-memoirs-confessed-to-much_589649.jpg" --- # Sartre, in his memoirs, confessed to much the same… ![“Sartre, in his memoirs, confessed to much the same experience. "Like Plato, I passed from knowledge to its subject. I found more reality in the idea than in the thing because it was given to me first and because it was given for a thing. It was in books that I encountered the universe: digested…” quote by Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95a/alberto-manguel-2467_knowledge_sartre-in-his-memoirs-confessed-to-much_589649.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95a/alberto-manguel-2467_knowledge_sartre-in-his-memoirs-confessed-to-much_589649.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95a/alberto-manguel-2467_knowledge_sartre-in-his-memoirs-confessed-to-much_589649.jpg) > ““Sartre, in his memoirs, confessed to much the same experience. "Like Plato, I passed from knowledge to its subject. I found more reality in the idea than in the thing because it was given to me first and because it was given for a thing. It was in books that I encountered the universe: digested, classified, labelled, mediated, still formidable.”” [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author reflects on how ideas can feel more real than physical objects because they are first encountered through thought and literature. **In simple terms:** Ideas can seem more real than things. Key Takeaway Value the power of ideas. Themes philosophy perception knowledge literature Mood contemplative introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - reading - academic study - creative writing Key Concepts Platonism subjectivity mediation Questions to Reflect On - How do ideas shape your reality? - Can a concept be more true than a thing? A Different Perspective Ideas may lack tangible evidence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ## Related quotes > ['Matisse and Picasso' is a little like Plato after Socrates. Socrates only taught in words. He didn't write. And after that, you had Plato…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francoise-gilot/matisse-and-picasso-is-a-little-like-plato-after-socrates-socrates/) [Francoise Gilot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francoise-gilot/) > [“You see, all our ordinary views of things are no good, they do not lead anywhere. It is necessary to think differently, and this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-d-ouspensky/you-see-all-our-ordinary-views-of-things-are-no-good-they-do-not-lead/) [P.D. Ouspensky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-d-ouspensky/) > [In those days it was possible for a Greek to flee from an over-abundant reality as though it were but the tricky scheming off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-those-days-it-was-possible-for-a-greek-to-flee-from-an-over/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [I like people who like Plato.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-like-people-who-like-plato/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“You know how much I used to like Plato. Today I realize he lied. For the things of this world are not a reflection…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tadeusz-borowski/you-know-how-much-i-used-to-like-plato-today-i-realize-he-lied-for/) [Tadeusz Borowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tadeusz-borowski/) > [“To do is to be – Aristotle To be or not to be – Shakespeare To be is to do – Jean-Paul Sartre Do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alannah-foley/to-do-is-to-be-aristotle-to-be-or-not-to-be-shakespeare-to-be-is-to/) Alannah Foley > [ I always remind myself that \[ Jean-Paul\] Sartre and \[Simone\] de Beauvoir didn't have children. And when you don't have children, it might be… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/i-always-remind-myself-that-jean-paul-sartre-and-simone-de-beauvoir/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [“The novel, then, provides a reduction of the world different from that of the treatise. It has to lie. Words, thoughts, patterns of word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-novel-then-provides-a-reduction-of-the-world-different-from-that/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” What”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eula-biss/as-jean-paul-sartre-put-it-freedom-is-what-you-do-with-what-s-been/) [Eula Biss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eula-biss/) > [“(Sartre) (The world is full without me, as in Nausea; the world plays at living behind a glass partition; the world is in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/sartre-the-world-is-full-without-me-as-in-nausea-the-world-plays-at/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [ “\[W\]hat we also see in sex is a kind of submissiveness. But not a kind of submissiveness which is simply 'do what you like,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-c-solomon/w-hat-we-also-see-in-sex-is-a-kind-of-submissiveness-but-not-a-kind/) [Robert C. Solomon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-c-solomon/) > [“Much of Sartre’s time in the 1960s was spent travelling in China and the Third World, a term invented by the geographer Alfred Sauvy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/much-of-sartre-s-time-in-the-1960s-was-spent-travelling-in-china-and/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) > [What impressed me about Plato and Sartre was their conviction that we should live our lives in the light of big truths about reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-cooper/what-impressed-me-about-plato-and-sartre-was-their-conviction-that-we/) [David E. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-cooper/) > [“A fact is first an answer to a question. If Sartre had consulted psychologists before judging them in the light of his own genius,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-piaget/a-fact-is-first-an-answer-to-a-question-if-sartre-had-consulted/) [Jean Piaget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-piaget/) > [“Whenever the wife wants to do drugs, she thinks about Sartre. One bad trip and then a giant lobster followed him around for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-offill/whenever-the-wife-wants-to-do-drugs-she-thinks-about-sartre-one-bad/) [Jenny Offill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-offill/) ## More by Alberto Manguel > [Most readers, then and now, have at some time experienced the humiliation of being told that their occupation is reprehensible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/most-readers-then-and-now-have-at-some-time-experienced-the/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Libraries, whether my own or shared with a greater reading public, have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/libraries-whether-my-own-or-shared-with-a-greater-reading-public-have/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [At different times and in different places I have come to expect certain books to look a certain way, and, as in all fashions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/at-different-times-and-in-different-places-i-have-come-to-expect/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [I have no feelings of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read; I know that my books have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/i-have-no-feelings-of-guilt-regarding-the-books-i-have-not-read-and/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [“Then one day, from the window of a car (the destination of that journey is now forgotten), I saw a billboard by the side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/then-one-day-from-the-window-of-a-car-the-destination-of-that-journey/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [The shelves of books we haven't written, like those of books we haven't read, stretches out into the darkness of the universal library's farthest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/the-shelves-of-books-we-haven-t-written-like-those-of-books-we-haven/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [“I have no feeling of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read; I know that my books have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/i-have-no-feeling-of-guilt-regarding-the-books-i-have-not-read-and/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Old books that we have known but not possessed cross our path and invite themselves over. New books try to seduce us daily with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/old-books-that-we-have-known-but-not-possessed-cross-our-path-and/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Ordered by subject, by importance, ordered according to whether the book was penned by God or by one of God's creatures, ordered alphabetically or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/ordered-by-subject-by-importance-ordered-according-to-whether-the/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [The starting point is a question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/the-starting-point-is-a-question/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [“Ljubav je imbecilna izvesnost pomoću koje naša fantazija stvara verodostojnu utvaru.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/ljubav-je-imbecilna-izvesnost-pomo-u-koje-na-a-fantazija-stvara/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [I know that something dies when i give up my books, and that my memory keeps going back to them with mournful nostalgia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/i-know-that-something-dies-when-i-give-up-my-books-and-that-my-memory/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Something about the possession of a book - an object that can contain infinite fables, words of wisdom, chronicles of times gone by, humorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/something-about-the-possession-of-a-book-an-object-that-can-contain/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/maybe-this-is-why-we-read-and-why-in-moments-of-darkness-we-return-to/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [As centuries of dictators have known, an illiterate crowd is the easiest to rule; since the craft of reading cannot be untaught once it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/as-centuries-of-dictators-have-known-an-illiterate-crowd-is-the/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) [Explore all 159 Alberto Manguel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) ## More Knowledge quotes > [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/) Rabelaise > [For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/for-successful-education-there-must-always-be-a-certain-freshness-in/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernbach/nothing-is-so-powerful-as-an-insight-into-human-nature-what/) [William Bernbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernbach/) > [But I already saw no great difference between the psyche and spirituality. To amass knowledge without becoming wise is not my idea of progress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/but-i-already-saw-no-great-difference-between-the-psyche-and/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment. This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bankei-yotaku/an-enlightened-awareness-is-within-each-one-of-us-right-at-this/) [Bankei Yotaku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bankei-yotaku/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I never knew any man who had once tasted the sweetness of experimental knowledge, that ever afterward fasted after ye Vapour garlick and onions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-zimmer/i-never-knew-any-man-who-had-once-tasted-the-sweetness-of/) [Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-zimmer/) > [I would rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my powers and dominion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/i-would-rather-excel-others-in-the-knowledge-of-what-is-excellent/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/we-know-accurately-only-when-we-know-little-with-knowledge-doubt/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I've always been a believer in research. It's great to have an instinctual human reaction to a character, too, of course, but it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chiwetel-ejiofor/i-ve-always-been-a-believer-in-research-it-s-great-to-have-an/) [Chiwetel Ejiofor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chiwetel-ejiofor/) > [I am an aware citizen, so I want my characters to be aware, too. They should be aware of what's happening in the society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-tripathi/i-am-an-aware-citizen-so-i-want-my-characters-to-be-aware-too-they/) [Pankaj Tripathi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-tripathi/) > [Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/technology-means-the-systematic-application-of-scientific-or-other/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [Love is a vision,love carry our vision,and love by-step our vision. we carry our love to our by-step. once love is vision love is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-a-vision-love-carry-our-vision-and-love-by-step-our-vision-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Man is an ignoramus athirst for knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-wagner/man-is-an-ignoramus-athirst-for-knowledge/) [Charles Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-wagner/) [Browse all 13,227 Knowledge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Sartre, in his memoirs, confessed to much the same experience. \"Like Plato, I passed from knowledge to its subject. 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