Albert Camus
French writer and philosopher (1913 to 1960), born in Algeria, author of The Stranger, The Plague and The Myth of Sisyphus, and winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature.
From the book The Myth of Sisyphus19 korrents
Albert Camus did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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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.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsJudging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsThe typical act of eluding, the fatal evasion that constitutes the third theme of this essay, is hope.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsIt is always easy to be logical. It is almost impossible to be logical to the bitter end.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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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.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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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.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsLiving is keeping the absurd alive. Keeping it alive is above all contemplating it.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsOne of the only coherent philosophical positions is thus revolt.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsIt may be thought that suicide follows revolt – but wrongly. For it does not represent the logical outcome of revolt.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsSuicide, like the leap, is acceptance at its extreme.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsThe absurd enlightens me on this point: there is no future.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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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.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsWhere lucidity dominates, the scale of values becomes useless.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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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.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsThus I draw from the absurd three consequences which are my revolt, my freedom and my passion.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsAfter all, ironic philosophies produce passionate works.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsThere is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsThere is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
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Their wordsThe struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
↗The Myth of Sisyphus (Penguin, 2013 edition; tr. Justin O'Brien)books.google.com All 19 from this book
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.