Top 25 Quotes by Albert Camus of 985 - Page 24

In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion; in order to serve others better, one has to hold them at a distance for a time. But where can one find the solitude necessary to vigor, the

In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion; in order to serve others better, one has to hold them at a distance for a time. But where can one find the solitude necessary to vigor, the deep breath in which the mind collects itself and courage gauges its strength? There remain big cities.

Albert Camus

Distance, Order, Cities

Albert Camus (2012). “The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays”, p.157, Vintage

Indeed, men never know how to love. nothing satisfies them. All they know is to dream, to imagine new duties, to look for new countries and new homes. While we women, we know that we must hasten to love, to share the same bed, hold hands, and fear absence. When we women love, we dream of nothing.

Albert Camus

Love, Dream, Country

... it is true that I do not respect [human life] more than I respect my own life. And if it is easy for me to kill, that is because it is difficult for me to die.

Albert Camus

Life, Death, Respect

So all a man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories.

Albert Camus

Memories, Winning, Men

Albert Camus (1972). “The Plague”, eBookEden.com

They hurt each other without wanting to, just because each represented to the others the cruel and demanding necessity of their lives.

Albert Camus

Hurt

Albert Camus (2013). “The First Man”, p.85, Penguin UK

As for those whose role it is to love us - I mean, relatives and in-laws (what a word)- It's a different tune. They find the right word, but it's usually the one that wounds.

Albert Camus

Mean, Law, Tunes

Albert Camus (2006). “The fall”, Penguin Modern Classics

When one has extensively pondered about men, as a career or as a vocation, one sometimes feels nostalgic for primates. At least they do not have ulterior motives.

Albert Camus

Men, Careers, Sometimes

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.

Albert Camus

Fall, Punishment, Rocks

Albert Camus (2012). “The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays”, p.119, Vintage

Time will prolong time, and life will serve life. In this field that is both limited and bulging with possibilities, everything to himself, except his lucidity, seems unforeseeable to him. What rule, then, could emanate from that unreasonable order? The only truth that might seem instructive to him is not formal: it comes to life and unfolds in men. The absurd mind cannot so much expect ethical rules at the end of its reasoning as, rather, illustrations and the breath of human lives.

Albert Camus

Men, Illustration, Order

Albert Camus (2012). “The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays”, p.68, Vintage

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.

Albert Camus

Adventure, Sea, Long

Albert Camus (2012). “The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt”, p.303, Vintage

In the vast reaches of the dry, cold night, thousands of stars were constantly appearing, and their sparkling icicles, loosened at once, began to slip gradually toward the horizon.

Albert Camus

Stars, Night, Horizon

Albert Camus (1964). “The fall, & Exile and the kingdom”, Random House Inc

I feel like getting married, or committing suicide, or subscribing to L'Illustration. Something desperate, you know.

Albert Camus

Suicide, Illustration, Married

Albert Camus (2012). “Happy Death”, p.36, Vintage

What did it matter if he existed for two or for twenty years? Happiness was the fact that he had existed.

Albert Camus

Two, Years, Matter

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

Stupidity, Knack, Way

Albert Camus (1948). “The Plague”, Vintage

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.

Albert Camus

Children, Men, Air

Then we understand that rebellion cannot exist without a strange form of love. Those who find no rest in God or in history are condemned to live for those who, like themselves, cannot live; in fact, for the humiliated.

Albert Camus

Facts, Strange, Rebellion

"The Rebel". Book by Albert Camus, 1951.

Life is the result of all your choices.

Albert Camus

Choices, Life Is, Results

We must stitch up what has been torn apart, render justice imaginable in the world which is so obviously unjust, make happiness meaningful for nations poisoned by the misery of this century. Naturally, it is a superhuman task. But tasks are called superhuman when men take a long time to complete them, that is all.

Albert Camus

Meaningful, Hope, Men

Albert Camus (1967). “Lyrical and critical”, Hamish Hamilton Ltd

Do you believe in God, doctor?" No - but what does that really mean? I'm fumbling in the dark, struggling to make something out. But I've long ceased finding that original.

Albert Camus

Believe, Struggle, Mean

ALBERT CAMUS (1971). “NOBEL PRIZE LIBRARY”

The current motto for all of us can only be this: without giving up anything on the plane of justice, yield nothing on the plane of freedom.

Albert Camus

Giving Up, Giving, Justice

"Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays".

In order to exist, man must rebel, but rebellion must respect the limits that it discovers in itself - limits where minds meet, and in meeting, begin to exist.

Albert Camus

Men, Order, Mind

Albert Camus (2012). “The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt”, p.22, Vintage

Every stone here sweats with suffering, I know that. I have never looked at them without a feeling of anguish. But deep in my heart I know that the most wretched among you have seen a divine face emerge from their darkness. That is the face you are asked to see.

Albert Camus

Heart, Sweat, Darkness

Wandering seemed no more than the happiness of an anxious man.

Albert Camus

Men, Wander, Anxious

Albert Camus (2012). “Happy Death”, p.105, Vintage

I spent a long time looking at faces, drinking in smiles. Am I happy or unhappy? It’s not a very important question. I live with such frenzied intensity. Things and people are waiting for me, and doubtless I am waiting for them and desiring them with all my strength and sadness. But, here, I earn the right to be alive by silence and by secrecy. The miracle of not having to talk about oneself.

Albert Camus

Drinking, Sadness, Long