Albert Camus
walk front follow behind lead beside friend
“Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow
Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead
Walk beside me… just be my friend”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
happy happiness live meaning life
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
depth winter within inside invincible summer
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
man creature refuse be himself
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
end courage live kill suicide
“But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
unfree world free existence rebellion
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
sure interest disinterest absolutely
“I may not have been sure about what really did interest me, but I was absolutely sure about what didn't.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
purpose writer civilization destroy
“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
go far truth extreme
“Always go too far, because that's where you'll find the truth”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
people talk sleep lecture other lecturee professor
“Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
job thinking people side executioner
“It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
rebel man say no
“What is a rebel? A man who says no.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
rebel exist
“I rebel; therefore I exist.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
idleness fatal mediocre mediocracy
“Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
special cases
“We are all special cases.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
genius man problems
“I don't want to be a genius-I have enough problems just trying to be a man.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
integrity rules need
“Integrity has no need of rules.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
believe nothing meaning value possible importance
“If we believe in nothing, if nothing has any meaning and if we can affirm no values whatsoever, then everything is possible and nothing has any importance.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
born mad remain
“We are all born mad, some remain so”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
art revolt die last man
“Art and revolt will die only with the last man.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
plague sick people cure curing
“I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
truth boring habits
“The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
plague life
“But what does it mean, the plague? It's life, that's all.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
evil ignorance goodwill ill-will clear-sight
“The evil in the world comes almost always from ignorance, and goodwill can cause as much damage as ill-will if it is not enlightened. People are more often good than bad, though in fact that is not the question. But they are more or less ignorant and this is what one calls vice or virtue, the most appalling vice being the ignorance that thinks it knows everything and which consequently authorizes itself to kill. The murderer's soul is blind, and there is no true goodness or fine love without the greatest possible degree of clear-sightedness.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
pestilence victim join forces
“All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it's up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
stupidity knack win selfish
“stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
faint hope plague
“And indeed it could be said that once the faintest stirring of hope became possible, the dominion of plague was ended.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
plague war history surprise
“There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
evil ignorance
“le mal qui est dans le monde vient presque toujours de l'ignorance”
(“the evil in the world comes almost always from ignorance")
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
hundred million death war puff smoke imagination
“But what are a hundred million deaths? When one has served in a war, one hardly knows what a dead man is, after a while. And since a dead man has no substance unless one has actually seen him dead, a hundred million corpses broadcast through history are no more than a puff of smoke in the imagination.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
forbidden spit cat plague-time
“It is forbidden to spit on cats in plague-time.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
pestilence begin end rhetoric habit lost return truth silence
“At the beginning of a pestilence and when it ends, there's always a propensity for rhetoric. In the first case, habits have not yet been lost; in the second, they're returning. It is in the thick of a calamity that one gets hardened to the truth - in other words, to silence.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
plague fight honesty
“The only means to fight the plague is honesty.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)
welfare people alibi tyrant servant conscience
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”
― Albert Camus (1913-1960)