Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the distinction between truth and desire, suggesting that the pursuit of truth may not align with what we wish to believe or attain.
In this quote, Albert Camus highlights the philosophical struggle between the pursuit of truth and the naturally human inclination towards seeking out what we find desirable or comforting. He suggests that understanding and accepting reality often requires confronting uncomfortable truths, rather than allowing our desires to dictate our perceptions of what is true. This notion challenges people to prioritize authenticity and honesty over the allure of convenience or pleasure.
In practice
In a debate on ethics, one might quote Camus to stress the importance of facing uncomfortable truths over pandering to popular beliefs.
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.
If we were able to live at the level of the soul all the time, there would be no need for hindsight to appreciate the great truths of life.
It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.
I think that if one is faced by inevitable destruction -- if a house is falling upon you, for instance -- one must feel a great longing to sit down, close one's eyes and wait, come what may . . .
My feeling is that the hero has now been defined by phrases like the odious one that we were all raised with - crimes does not pay. Of course it pays, you schmuck. That's not why we don't do it. We don't do it because it is wrong.
Now everything is wonderful and hazardous and nothing's hypothetical.
Is it freedom to be a slave to the senses, to anger, to jealousies and a hundred other petty things that must occur every day in human life?
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