Full Idea
Man fundamentally is the desire to be God.
Gist of Idea
Man is the desire to be God
Source
Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943], p.556?), quoted by Gordon Graham - Eight Theories of Ethics Ch.5
Book Reference
Graham,Gordon: 'Eight Theories of Ethics' [Routledge 2004], p.80
A Reaction
It is better to see man (as seen all the way through the European tradition) as caught between the self-images of being an angel and being a 'quintessence of dust' (Hamlet).