Highlighting the presence of existential thought in the philosophical and literary works of America.
The Will To Meaning
"Happiness is just a side-effect of purpose, a tag-a-long to the essence you create."
"We should heroically rebel against the abyss of meaninglessness and in that very act of defiance find some semblance of a reason for being."
"The existentialists argue that, of all the beings existing in the world, the human being is the only one that can decide what it should be; indeed, it is forced to do so since it has no fixed nature."
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
"It might be true that there are six billion people in the world and counting. Nevertheless, what you do makes a difference. It makes a difference, first of all, in material terms. Makes a difference to other people and it sets an example. In short, I think the message here is that we should never simply write ourselves off and see ourselves as the victim of various forces. It’s always our decision who we are."
Robert C. Solomon, Waking Life
"Whatever capacities and traits I am born with, it is up to me to take them over and make something of them in what I do. Thus, whether aware of it or not, I am creating my own identity in my actions."
Charles Guignon, University of South Florida
"And I knew that it was better to live out one’s absurdity than to die for that of others."
Ralph Ellison
"All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization that everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself."
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
"The quest-ion of life’s meaning is the most urgent question of all."
Irvin D. Yalom, Existential Psychotherapy
