Full Idea
In creating the man that we want to be, there is not a single one of our acts which does not at the same time create an image of man as we think he ought to be.
Gist of Idea
In becoming what we want to be we create what we think man ought to be
Source
Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism and Humanism [1945], p.293), quoted by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 7 'Anything'
Book Reference
Aho,Kevin: 'Existentialism: an introduction' [Polity 2014], p.108
A Reaction
I recall this being one of my earliest thoughts about morality - that in everything we do we are all role models for the people around us. For me, that leads to virtue theory.