Top 997 Quotes & Sayings by Albert Camus - Page 3

I have never been able to renounce the light, the pleasure of being, and the freedom in which I grew up.

It is normal to give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all.

Man is an idea, and a precious small idea once he turns his back on love.

How hard, how bitter it is to become a man!

To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.

Men are convinced of your arguments, your sincerity, and the seriousness of your efforts only by your death.

Working conditions for me have always been those of the monastic life: solitude and frugality. Except for frugality, they are contrary to my nature, so much so that work is a violence I do to myself.

Every man needs slaves like he needs clean air. To rule is to breathe, is it not? And even the most disenfranchised get to breathe. The lowest on the social scale have their spouses or their children.

For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.

To cut short the question of the law of retaliation, we must note that even in its primitive form it can operate only between two individuals of whom one is absolutely innocent, and the other absolutely guilty. The victim, to be sure, is innocent. But can the society that is supposed to represent the victim lay claim to innocence?

Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.

The role of the intellectual cannot be to excuse the violence of one side and condemn that of the other.

Martyrs, my friend, have to choose between being forgotten, mocked or used. As for being understood - never.

To assert in any case that a man must be absolutely cut off from society because he is absolutely evil amounts to saying that society is absolutely good, and no-one in his right mind will believe this today.

What the world requires of the Christians is that they should continue to be Christians.

Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.

We turn toward God only to obtain the impossible.

The real passion of the twentieth century is servitude.

The day when I am no more than a writer I shall cease to be a writer.

To insure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough, a police force is needed as well.

Only a philosophy of eternity, in the world today, could justify non-violence.

Methods of thought which claim to give the lead to our world in the name of revolution have become, in reality, ideologies of consent and not of rebellion.

Every time somebody speaks of my honesty, there is someone who quivers inside me.

We call first truths those we discover after all the others.

You have to be very rich or very poor to live without a trade.

How can sincerity be a condition of friendship? A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing.

The desire for possession is insatiable, to such a point that it can survive even love itself. To love, therefore, is to sterilize the person one loves.

After all, every murderer when he kills runs the risk of the most dreadful of deaths, whereas those who kill him risk nothing except promotion.

Integrity needs no rules.

You have so much inside you, and the noblest happiness of all. Don’t just wait for a man to come along. That’s the mistake so many women make. Find your happiness in yourself.

Yes, everything is simple. It's people who complicate things.

Humans are creatures, who spent their lifes trying to convince themselves, that their existence is not absurd

My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. Truly yours, Albert Camus

Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be, and humor for what they actually are.

Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but “steal” some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude. That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be.

The realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning.

One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it.

The greatness of man lies in his decision to be stronger than his condition.

You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

The Four Conditions of Happiness: Life in the open air, Love for another being,Freedom from ambition,Creation

Whoever gives nothing, has nothing. The greatest misfortune is not to be unloved, but not to love.

Every time I hear a political speech or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounded human. It is always the same words telling the same lies. And the fact that men accept this, that the people’s anger has not destroyed these hollow clowns, strikes me as proof that men attribute no importance to the way they are governed; that they gamble – yes, gamble – with a whole part of their life and their so called 'vital interests.

Life is a sum of all your choices". So, what are you doing today?

Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.

You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.

There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.

There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.

Freedom is not constituted primarily of privileges but of responsibilities.

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.

Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.

Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement.

The most knowledgeable person in one domain may be the most ignorant in another.

One always has exaggerated ideas about what one doesn't know.

Everything considered, a determined soul will always manage.

I rebel; therefore I exist.

The most important thing you do everyday you live is deciding not to kill yourself.

There always comes a time when one must choose between contemplation and action. This is called becoming a man.

Life is meaningless, but worth living, provided you recognize it's meaningless.

Always go too far, because that's where you'll find the truth

I don't want to be a genius-I have enough problems just trying to be a man.