There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
Interpretation
Scorn can empower individuals to overcome challenges and fate.
Albert Camus suggests that no matter how dire a situation may seem, one can always prevail against it through disdain or scorn. This attitude of defiance can uplift individuals, allowing them to reject the constraints of their circumstances and assert control over their destinies.
In practice
During a motivational speech to encourage resilience among students.
The Poor Man whom everyone speaks of, the Poor Man whom everyone pities, one of the repulsive Poor from whom charitable souls keep their distance, he has still said nothing. Or, rather, he has spoken through the voice of Victor Hugo, Zola, Richepin. At least, they said so. And these shameful impostures fed their authors. Cruel irony, the Poor Man tormented with hunger feeds those who plead his case.
The certainty of a God giving meaning to life far surpasses in attractiveness the ability to behave badly with impunity. The choice would not be hard to make. But there is no choice and that is where the bitterness comes in. The absurd does not liberate; it binds.
Between history and the eternal I have chosen history because I like certainties. Of it, at least, I am certain, and how can I deny this force crushing me.
Don't wait for the last judgment - it takes place every day.
A single sentence will suffice for modern man. He fornicated and read the papers. After that vigorous definition, the subject will be, if I may say so, exhausted.
At times I feel myself overtaken by an immense tenderness for these people around me who live in the same century.
Maturity is the slowness in which a man believes.
Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet - because it is the purpose of humanity.
True greatness is when your name is like ampere, watt, and fourier-when it's spelled with a lower case letter.
Abundance, even of good things, prevents them from being valued
Problems can only be solved by the people who have them. You have to try and coax them and love them into seeing ways in which they can help themselves.
That is another chamber of my heart that shows no electrical activity - the chamber that used to flicker into life when I saw a film that moved me, or read a book that inspired me, or listened to music that made me want to cry. I closed that chamber myself, for all the usual reasons. And now I seem to have made a pact with some philistine devil: if I don't attempt to re-open it, I will be allowed just enough energy and optimism to get through a working day without wanting to hang myself.
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