Albert Camus Quotes
-
Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable. It would be a mistake to say that happiness necessarily springs from the absurd discovery. It happens as well that the felling of the absurd springs from happiness. "I conclude that all is well," says Oedipus, and that remark is sacred. It echoes in the wild and limited universe of man. It teaches that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drives out of this world a god who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile suffering. It makes of fate a human matter, which must be settled among men.
-
Every rebellion implies some kind of unity.
-
Culture: the cry of men in face of their destiny.
-
She was wearing a pair of my pajamas with the sleeves rolled up. When she laughed I wanted her again. A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so. She looked sad. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her.
-
I conceived at least one great love in my life, of which I was always the object.
-
La vraie générosité envers l'avenir consiste à tout donner au présent.
-
At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face.
-
Whatever we may do, excess will always keep its place in the heart of man, in the place where solitude is found. We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and in others.
-
I was absent at the moment I took up the most space.
-
I have not stopped loving that which is sacred in this world.
-
The end of their passion consists of loving uselessly at the moment when it is pointless.
-
When a war breaks out, people say: 'It's too stupid; it can't last long.' But though the war may well be 'too stupid,' that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.
-
N'attendez pas le Jugement dernier. Il a lieu tous les jours.
-
Great feelings take with them their own universe, splendid or abject. They light up with their passion an exclusive world in which they recognize their climate. There is a universe of jealousy, of ambition, of selfishness or generosity. A universe - in other words a metaphysic and an attitude of mind.
-
To become god is merely to be free on this earth, not to serve an immortal being.
-
The most knowledgeable person in one domain may be the most ignorant in another.
-
He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.
-
It is not rebellion itself which is noble but the demands it makes upon us.
-
'This is the truth,' we say. 'You can discuss it as much as you want; we aren't interested. But in a few years there'll be the police who will show you we are right.'
-
Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter.
-
Lucifer also has died with God, and from his ashes has arisen a spiteful demon who does not even understand the object of his venture.
-
There always comes a time in history when the person who dares to say that 2+2=4 is punished by death. And the issue is not what reward or what punishment will be the outcome of that reasoning. The issue is simply whether or not 2+2=4.
-
The words that reverberate for us at the confines of this long adventure of rebellion are not formulas for optimism, for which we have no possible use in the extremities of our unhappiness, but words of courage and intelligence which, on the shores of the eternal seas, even have the qualities of virtue.
-
The slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown. He must dominate in his turn.