BY SOFO ARCHON
Albert Camus was a French philosopher, author, and journalist who was one of the most prominent existentialist thinkers of the 20th century. His works, such as “The Stranger” and “The Myth of Sisyphus,” explored a wide range of themes, including the human condition, life and happiness, death and suicide, rebellion, freedom, God and truth, fear, time, art and philosophy. He is widely recognized for his exploration of the meaning and purpose of life, and his ideas have had a significant impact on contemporary philosophy, literature, and culture.
In this compilation of quotes, we will delve into the various perspectives Camus had on these topics, providing a deeper understanding of his thought process and ideas. The quotes would give the readers a glimpse of his views on the world, human nature and the relationship between them.
“If time frightens us, this is because it works out the problem and the solution comes afterwards.”
“Every ideology is contrary to human psychology.”
“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”
“Do not wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place every day.”
“Having money is a way of being free of money.”
“There is always a philosophy for lack of courage.”
“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
“Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower.”
“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
“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.”
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
“Nothing can discourage the appetite for divinity in the heart of man.”
“Live to the point of tears.”
“You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question.”
“One recognizes one’s course by discovering the paths that stray from it.”
“A loveless world is a dead world.”
“For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.”
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
“You can’t create experience, you undergo it.”
“I do not believe in God and I am not an atheist.”
“If I try to seize this self of which I feel sure, if I try to define and to summarize it, it is nothing but water slipping through my fingers. I can sketch one by one all the aspects it is able to assume, all those likewise that have been attributed to it, this upbringing, this origin, this ardor or these silences, this nobility or this vileness. But aspects cannot be added up.”
“Man is always prey to his truths. Once he has admitted them, he cannot free himself from them.”
“Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.”
“Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.”
“There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.”
“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”
“To have time was at once the most magnificent and the most dangerous of experiments. Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.”
“Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.”
“If absolute truth belongs to anyone in this world, it certainly does not belong to the man or party that claims to possess it.”
“Good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.”
“Integrity has no need of rules.”
“You always get exaggerated notions about things you don’t know anything about.”
“When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him.”
“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves.”
“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.”
“There is not love of life without despair about life.”
“But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.
“Believe me, for certain men at least, not taking what one doesn’t desire is the hardest thing in the world.”
“For who would dare to assert that eternal happiness can compensate for a single moment’s human suffering.”
“Here lives a free man. Nobody serves him.”
“What is a rebel? A man who says no.”
“We are all special cases.”
“An achievement is a bondage. It obliges one to a higher achievement.”
“A man wants to earn money in order to be happy, and his whole effort and the best of a life are devoted to the earning of that money. Happiness is forgotten; the means are taken for the end.”
“Whatever prevents you from doing your work has become your work.”
“I’ve seen of enough of people who die for an idea. I don’t believe in heroism; I know it’s easy and I’ve learned it can be murderous. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves.”