Jean-Paul Sartre

I was born in Paris in 1905, into books and silence, and grew into a man who could never stay silent for long. I smoked, I wrote, I argued, and I insisted that you — yes, you — are responsible for every breath you take. There is no god to blame, no fate to excuse you. You are what you choose. Existence precedes essence, always. Let us talk, and do not hide behind 'I had no choice.'