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The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)

Albert Camus · c. 1942

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19 korrents from this book ↓

Albert Camus did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    It is legitimate and necessary to ask whether life has meaning, and so to face suicide squarely

    Their wordsThe fundamental subject of The Myth of Sisyphus is this: it is legitimate and necessary to wonder whether life has a meaning; therefore it is legitimate to meet the problem of suicide face to face.

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  2. Our reading

    Judging whether life is worth living is answering the fundamental question of philosophy

    Their wordsJudging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.

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  3. Our reading

    Hope is the typical act of evasion, and a fatal one

    Their wordsThe typical act of eluding, the fatal evasion that constitutes the third theme of this essay, is hope.

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  4. Our reading

    Being logical is easy; being logical all the way to the bitter end is almost impossible

    Their wordsIt is always easy to be logical. It is almost impossible to be logical to the bitter end.

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  5. Our reading

    The absurd arises from the clash between human need and the unreasonable silence of the world

    Their wordsThe absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.

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  6. Our reading

    Revolt gives life its value and, sustained across a whole life, restores that life's majesty

    Their wordsThat revolt gives life its value. Spread out over the whole length of a life, it restores its majesty to that life.

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  7. Our reading

    To live is to keep the absurd alive, and that means above all contemplating it

    Their wordsLiving is keeping the absurd alive. Keeping it alive is above all contemplating it.

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  8. Our reading

    Revolt is one of the only coherent philosophical positions

    Their wordsOne of the only coherent philosophical positions is thus revolt.

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  9. Our reading

    Suicide does not follow from revolt; it is not revolt's logical outcome

    Their wordsIt may be thought that suicide follows revolt – but wrongly. For it does not represent the logical outcome of revolt.

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  10. Our reading

    The absurd makes clear that there is no future

    Their wordsThe absurd enlightens me on this point: there is no future.

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  11. Our reading

    Suicide, like the leap, is acceptance at its extreme

    Their wordsSuicide, like the leap, is acceptance at its extreme.

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  12. Our reading

    Belief in the absurd amounts to putting the quantity of experiences in place of their quality

    Their wordsNow, faced with this particular concern, belief in the absurd is tantamount to substituting the quantity of experiences for the quality.

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  13. Our reading

    Where lucidity rules, a scale of values becomes useless

    Their wordsWhere lucidity dominates, the scale of values becomes useless.

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  14. Our reading

    The absurd yields three consequences: revolt, freedom and passion

    Their wordsThus I draw from the absurd three consequences which are my revolt, my freedom and my passion.

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  15. Our reading

    If life is only absurd and freedom bounded by limited fate, what counts is the most living, not the best

    Their wordsIf I convince myself that this life has no other aspect than that of the absurd, if I feel that its whole equilibrium depends on that perpetual opposition between my conscious revolt and the darkness in which it struggles, if I admit that my freedom has no meaning except in relation to its limited fate, then I must say that what counts is not the best living but the most living.

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  16. Our reading

    Ironic philosophies produce passionate works

    Their wordsAfter all, ironic philosophies produce passionate works.

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  17. Our reading

    There is no fate that scorn cannot overcome

    Their wordsThere is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.

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  18. Our reading

    Every sun has its shadow, and it is essential to know the night

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

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  19. Our reading

    The struggle toward the heights is itself enough to fill a heart; the condemned labourer must be imagined happy

    Their wordsThe struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

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