Albert Camus

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

It is necessary to fall in love... if only to provide an alibi for all the random despair you are going to feel anyway.

I draw from the Absurd three consequences: my revolt, my liberty, my passion.

Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.

Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principle of evil.

The real passion of the twentieth century is servitude.

In order to exist just once in the world, it is necessary never again to exist.

Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.

Man wants to live, but it is useless to hope that this desire will dictate all his actions.

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

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

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

In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.

The society based on production is only productive, not creative.

Culture: the cry of men in face of their destiny.

Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.

We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives... inside ourselves.

It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.

We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love - first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.

Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them.