Sartre on Existence

"I exist, that is all, and I find it nauseating." - Jean Paul Sartre

I haven't been able to stop thinking about that quote since I saw it in a book yesterday. I haven't spent a lot of time studying philosophy, so I know little about Sartre. I googled him to learn more. He was a philosopher and a novelist. He lived a very simple and philanthropic life devoted to alleviating the suffering of others. He was once awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature but turned it down.

I wonder if Sartre was saying that existence itself is nauseating or that his existence was nauseating. Was it the concept of existence that sickened him or was he commenting on his own lack of purpose? Is his comment a personal critique of his own life or a comment on life in general?

If he was commenting on the arbitrary nature of life in general, I am impressed and inspired by how he chose to live his life despite being nauseated by the concept of it. Rather than hole up and do nothing, he dedicated his life to making the lives of others more bearable. My guess would be that Sartre himself was not a very happy person, consumed by thoughts of pointlessness, yet he strove to make others happier. I like.