--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In particular those who are condemned to…" description: "\"“In particular those who are condemned to stagnation are often pronounced happy on the pretext that happiness consists in being at rest. This notion we..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e7e/simone-de-beauvoir-407_happiness_in-particular-those-who-are-condemned-to_811012.jpg" --- # In particular those who are condemned to stagnation are… ![“In particular those who are condemned to stagnation are often pronounced happy on the pretext that happiness consists in being at rest. This notion we reject, for our perspective is that of existentialist ethics. Every subject plays his part as such specifically through exploits or projects that…” quote by Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e7e/simone-de-beauvoir-407_happiness_in-particular-those-who-are-condemned-to_811012.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e7e/simone-de-beauvoir-407_happiness_in-particular-those-who-are-condemned-to_811012.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e7e/simone-de-beauvoir-407_happiness_in-particular-those-who-are-condemned-to_811012.jpg) > ““In particular those who are condemned to stagnation are often pronounced happy on the pretext that happiness consists in being at rest. This notion we reject, for our perspective is that of existentialist ethics. Every subject plays his part as such specifically through exploits or projects that serve as a mode of transcendence; he achieves liberty only through a continual reaching out towards other liberties. There is no justification for present existence other than its expansion into an indefinitely open future. Every time transcendence falls back into immanence, stagnation, there is a degradation of existence into the ‘en-sois’ – the brutish life of subjection to given conditions – and of liberty into constraint and contingence. This downfall represents a moral fault if the subject consents to it; if it is inflicted upon him, it spells frustration and oppression. In both cases it is an absolute evil. Every individual concerned to justify his existence feels that his existence involves an undefined need to transcend himself, to engage in freely chosen projects.”” [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Existentialist ethics demand continual self‑transcendence; stagnation is moral decay, while freedom arises from projects that expand one’s future. **In simple terms:** Freedom comes from constantly creating and surpassing oneself. Key Takeaway Pursue meaningful projects to avoid stagnation. Themes existentialism freedom ethics transcendence stagnation Mood reflective determined serious Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career development - artistic creation - political activism - personal growth - education Key Concepts self‑transcendence project orientation moral responsibility Questions to Reflect On - What projects give your life purpose? - How do you resist societal pressures to remain passive? A Different Perspective If external constraints force stagnation, freedom may be impossible despite personal effort. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Existentialist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existentialist/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) ## Related quotes > [“Every individual concerned to justify his existence feels that his existence involves an undefined need to transcend himself, to engage in freely chosen projects.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/every-individual-concerned-to-justify-his-existence-feels-that-his/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“You are alive, and you don’t need to justify your existence. You can be the biggest mystery in your own story.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-ruiz/you-are-alive-and-you-don-t-need-to-justify-your-existence-you-can-be/) [Miguel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-ruiz/) > [“Can you justify your existence then?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/can-you-justify-your-existence-then/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and justify our existence... on pain of liquidation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/we-should-all-be-obliged-to-appear-before-a-board-every-five-years/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/the-individual-who-has-to-justify-his-existence-by-his-own-efforts-is/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [We are all warriors. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/we-are-all-warriors-each-of-us-struggles-every-day-to-define-and/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [A man who sets out to justify his existence and his activities has to distinguish two different questions. The first is whether the work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-h-hardy/a-man-who-sets-out-to-justify-his-existence-and-his-activities-has-to/) [G. H. Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-h-hardy/) > [“...although the reason for the existence of women is obvious enough, nobody has any real idea what point there is in being a man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jones/although-the-reason-for-the-existence-of-women-is-obvious-enough/) [Steve Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jones/) > [To be just, that is to say, to justify its existence, criticism should be partial, passionate and political, that is to say, written from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/to-be-just-that-is-to-say-to-justify-its-existence-criticism-should-2/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Why do we need to justify God's existence? He exists. We need to justify our own existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamza-yusuf/why-do-we-need-to-justify-god-s-existence-he-exists-we-need-to/) [Hamza Yusuf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamza-yusuf/) > [The hour when you say, "What does my happiness matter? It is poverty and filth, and a wretched complacency. Yet my happiness should justify…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-hour-when-you-say-what-does-my-happiness-matter-it-is-poverty-and/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [To be just, that is to say, to justify its existence, criticism should be partial, passionate and political, that is to say, written from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/to-be-just-that-is-to-say-to-justify-its-existence-criticism-should/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [I feel worn down as a human being who has to constantly justify their existence to other human beings because I'm a minority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/killer-mike/i-feel-worn-down-as-a-human-being-who-has-to-constantly-justify-their/) [Killer Mike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/killer-mike/) > [“An existant can never justify the existence of another existant.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/an-existant-can-never-justify-the-existence-of-another-existant/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [I needed to justify my existence, and I had made an absolute of literature. It took me thirty years to get rid of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-needed-to-justify-my-existence-and-i-had-made-an-absolute-of/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) ## More by Simone de Beauvoir > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/one-is-not-born-a-genius-one-becomes-a-genius-and-the-feminine/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Many things would be changed for Americans if they would only admit that there is ill-luck in this world and that misfortune is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/many-things-would-be-changed-for-americans-if-they-would-only-admit/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“You said something very true the other day: that for us, nudity begins with the face.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/you-said-something-very-true-the-other-day-that-for-us-nudity-begins/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“Ženama se ne rađamo, nego postajemo”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/enama-se-ne-ra-amo-nego-postajemo/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/life-is-occupied-in-both-perpetuating-itself-and-in-surpassing-itself/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Fathers never have exactly the daughters they want because they invent a notion a them that the daughters have to conform to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/fathers-never-have-exactly-the-daughters-they-want-because-they/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [However gifted an individual is at the outset, if his or her talents cannot be developed because of his or her social condition, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/however-gifted-an-individual-is-at-the-outset-if-his-or-her-talents/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [In fact, people seem to be tired of fiction now. There are so many other ways of exploring humanity - by ethnology, psychoanalysis, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/in-fact-people-seem-to-be-tired-of-fiction-now-there-are-so-many/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Feminism is one way of attacking society as it now exists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/feminism-is-one-way-of-attacking-society-as-it-now-exists/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“Magari mi troverai ridicola, ma mi disprezzerei se non osassi esserlo mai”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/magari-mi-troverai-ridicola-ma-mi-disprezzerei-se-non-osassi-esserlo/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [from one minute to the next the present is merely an honorary past. It must be filled unceasingly anew to dissemble the curse it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/from-one-minute-to-the-next-the-present-is-merely-an-honorary-past-it/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/i-am-awfully-greedy-i-want-everything-from-life-i-want-to-be-a-woman/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“I enjoyed my exhaustion, though; I liked overdoing things”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/i-enjoyed-my-exhaustion-though-i-liked-overdoing-things/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“But I miss you to the point of anguish.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/but-i-miss-you-to-the-point-of-anguish/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Explore all 488 Simone de Beauvoir quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) ## More Existentialist quotes > [“That is the idea I shall try to convey when I say that man is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/that-is-the-idea-i-shall-try-to-convey-when-i-say-that-man-is/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [“Part of being of a true existentialist is wanting to be what we make ourselves be by the way we choose to act, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-cox/part-of-being-of-a-true-existentialist-is-wanting-to-be-what-we-make/) Gary Cox > [Spirit and soul is horseshit of the worst sort. Obviously there are no fairies, no Santa Clauses, no spirits. What there is, is human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-ellis/spirit-and-soul-is-horseshit-of-the-worst-sort-obviously-there-are-no/) [Albert Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-ellis/) > [ \[Albert Camus\] was not an existentialist! ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-camus/albert-camus-was-not-an-existentialist/) [Catherine Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-camus/) > [Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosopher who celebrated the anguish of decision as a hallmark of responsibility, has no place in Silicon Valley.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evgeny-morozov/jean-paul-sartre-the-existentialist-philosopher-who-celebrated-the/) [Evgeny Morozov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evgeny-morozov/) > [“You are the illusion. The person in the mirror is real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-hooke/you-are-the-illusion-the-person-in-the-mirror-is-real/) [Isaac Hooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-hooke/) > [“After he graduated from college, he went to Paris and became an Existentialist. He had a photograph taken of Existentialism and himself sitting at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brautigan/after-he-graduated-from-college-he-went-to-paris-and-became-an/) [Richard Brautigan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brautigan/) > [“I feel as though dispossessed from the semblances of some crystalline reality to which I’d grown accustomed, and to some degree, had engaged in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashim-shanker/i-feel-as-though-dispossessed-from-the-semblances-of-some-crystalline/) [Ashim Shanker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashim-shanker/) > [Give me lust, baby. Flash. Give me malice. Flash. Give me detached existentialist ennui. Flash. Give me rampant intellectualism as a coping mechanism. Flash.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/give-me-lust-baby-flash-give-me-malice-flash-give-me-detached/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [Man never ceases to seek knowledge about the objects of his experiences, to understand their meaning for his existence and to react to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-watzlawick/man-never-ceases-to-seek-knowledge-about-the-objects-of-his/) [Paul Watzlawick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-watzlawick/) > [What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/what-is-meant-here-by-saying-that-existence-precedes-essence-it-means/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [“man is condemned to be free. 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I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayelet-zurer/i-grew-up-watching-a-lot-of-italian-and-french-movies-so-i-want-to/) [Ayelet Zurer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayelet-zurer/) > [Albert Camus, a great humanist and existentialist voice, pointed out that to commit to a just cause with no hope of success is absurd.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-simon/albert-camus-a-great-humanist-and-existentialist-voice-pointed-out/) [David Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-simon/) [Browse all 57 Existentialist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existentialist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In particular those who are condemned to stagnation are often pronounced happy on the pretext that happiness consists in being at rest. This notion we reject, for our perspective is that of existentialist ethics. 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