I dont' understnad what This quote means by Sartre(existentialist)?

Question

"Does that mean i should abandom myself to quietism? No. First, I should involve myself; then act on the old saw, "nothing ventured, nothing gained.' Nor does it mean that i shouldn't belong to a party, but rather that i shall have no illusions and shall do what i can."

does this quote link with emerson's quote--"“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

Answer 1

yes, i think they are both linked, to me its saying that it is easy to have principles when you are alone, especially if some of what you believe in (stand for) goes against popular opinion
the difficult part is not to remain alone or keep your thoughts to yourself, but to interact with the world while maintaining yourself, your independence from the opinions of others,
dont have illusions, thinking you can totally change others or find easy acceptance for yourself, but understand more can be done by being a member of a group then by being an outsider sitting alone
i would add its important to learn how to interact with others so they can hear what you are saying

one example, i am against any hitting of children, i can sit and believe this all day, and practice it in my own interaction with my child, i move out of my solitude when i interact with others concerning this subject, it becomes a little more difficult when i make a "no hitting" rule for my own home, people feel you are perhaps stepping on their rights as parents, yet i can still use the "my home , my rules" to ease it a bit, and people really have to accept it in my home, but once i move beyond that, i have to know and be prepared that others might not accept my opinion, in fact they may be very defensive, and i have to approach the subject more carefully, always maintaining my beliefs, but wording my thoughts more carefully, so that people will listen, most dont take kindly to screaming at them "you moron, who would hit a little child?" so its not easy to live after my own opinions and remain sweet and calm , and i know if i dont venture to speak out on this subject i am not doing my small part to achieve any change

Answer 2

The point is, real evil hides itself by it's banality -- it's everydayness. Serial killers are like this. Now that was my first take on your question. But of course even serial killers do what they do for the most part because "it is to their advantage to pretend". Witess this quote by Adolf Hitler: "Anit-Semitism is the only pornography tolerated under the Third Reich". So, the answer to your riddle is not as apparent as it seems. I mean although Hitler even admitted that he realized that his plan which culminated in mass-murder was corrupt, he named it as such, though justifying it through giving it a generalized and less vicious-sounding name. It is tempting to draw the conclusion that the source of your existentialist quote is mistaken, or over-analyzing. But let's assume HE really believes what he is saying, and not "pretending" to prove a point. It must then have a subtler meaning: For instance, the Nixon administration, during a war against an invisible thought-enemy ("World Communism") continued to cover up much of what they did and obfuscate actual events, such as denial of continuous invasion ("incursion") into Cambodian territory during the Vietnam War, or, in another example the cover-up of Watergate. Nixon's defense which would have eventually led to his impeachment had he not resigned was that he was "protecting National Security" in the case of Vietnam or, in the case of Watergate was "protecting the Office of the President and the Separation of Powers". The Bush administration in it's fight against a similar amorphous enemy ("World Terrorism") has moved closer to simply acknowledging their corruption, and makes little attempt to hide it or cover it up. Donald Rumsfeld on the Guantanamo Bay prisoners held without due process: [paraphrasing] "There are terrorists among these prisoners. Their so-called Human Rights are not even on the list of my concerns." The fact that Dick Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton Corp., which was granted multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts to "reconstruct" Iran as the war there began or even prior to the invasion -- this was and is patently wrong. But there it is, and although Rumsfeld resigned, the corporate control and advantage of the administration of the war in Iraq is still in place -- perhaps even worse than it was during the Rumsfeld tenure with no acknowledgement of any attempt to rectify forthcoming or even discussed by the Government. I guess the difference your writer is aiming at is illustrated in H.G. Well's apocryphal "Animal Farm", where the ruling pigs change their slogan from "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad" to "Two Legs Good, Four Legs Bad" once their power is entirely consolidated and they themselves begin to walk erect, thus publicly flouting not only the law, but publicly calling whatever they do "The Law". Perhaps the "only consolation" your writer begins with comes from the fact that as we lived through the era that inspired "Animal Farm" and came out OK, that we will most probably live through and eventually see the end of this present situation as well, and somehow regain again our dignity as a people, a nation, or at least (from the existentialist point of view), as a species.