"a year of thinking hard only led me to this: Life is absurd. It offers no purpose or explanation."

"This realization caused so much anxiety because I always had this unconscious feeling that there's something out there meant for me, and I just have to figure out what that is to live a good life."

"The world is an absurd place. It is all made up, and there are no rules. So, you can't 'find' meaning; you can only invent one. No essence of life exists until you commit to one. We're free and responsible."

"A sense of meaninglessness is prevalent in society. This is because we subscribe to the idea that everyone has a life mission."

"more and more people are deciding that God doesn't exist in modern society."

"We love those stories because they assure us that our lives are also meaningful narratives."

"""Existentialists... find it extremely disturbing that God no longer exists, for along with his disappearance goes the possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven. There could no longer be any a priori good, since there would be no infinite and perfect consciousness to conceive of it. Nowhere is it written that good exists, that we must be honest or must not lie, since we are on a plane shared only by men."""

"We mean that man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself..."

"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."""

"We are not human beings. We are human becomings. We are continuously changing."

"It is only through being solely responsible for our lives that we become something and invent our own values."

"denying freedom is what Sartre calls 'living in bad faith.' It means dismissing the ability to define and redefine ourselves at any time."

"It's so scary to commit to something without knowing if that's the best thing to do."

"you make yourself only by shutting the doors of possibilities and committing to something."

"By living authentically — that is, embracing the freedom of being the only entity responsible for inventing your values and always acting by your best understanding of who you are."

"""[F]or existentialists there is no love other than the deeds of love; no potential for love other than that which is manifested in loving. There is no genius other than that which is expressed in works of art."""

"""First, I must commit myself, and then act according to the old adage: 'No hope is necessary to undertake anything.'"""

"""To be sure, a human being is a finite thing, and his freedom is restricted. It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions… in addition to being a professor in two fields [neurology and psychiatry] I am a survivor of four camps… and as such I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable.'"""

"Only by being honest can you notice you're more complicated than a label. Then you get more comfortable with the ambiguity of life. And you become more curious about yourself."

"By committing to something despite the ambiguity of life, you develop the granular parts of yourself, the meaning of your life."

"""In life, a man commits himself and draws his own portrait, outside of which there is nothing."""