If the only significant history of human thought were to be written, it would have to be the history of its successive regrets and its impotences.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the nature of human thought as a series of disappointments and limitations.
In this quote, Albert Camus suggests that if we were to document the most important aspects of human intellectual history, it would primarily revolve around our regrets and failures rather than achievements. This implies a deep philosophical contemplation about the impermanence of human success and the weight of our unfulfilled desires and aspirations, highlighting a sense of existential reflection inherent in human experience.
In practice
In a presentation about the philosophical implications of failures in human history, this quote can provide an insightful perspective.
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.
India is a proud and sovereign country. We do not take any decisions under pressure from the U.S. or any other power.
Making matters worse is people's natural inclination to be easy on themselves, judging themselves according to their good intentions-while holding others to a higher standard and judging them by their worst actions.
You grieve Not that heaven does not exist but That it exists without us
Your master is he who controls that on which you have set your heart or wish to avoid.
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.
As an American man of the 1990s writing about a Japanese woman of the 1930s, I needed to cross three cultural divides - man to woman, American to Japanese, and present to past.
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