Albert Camus Quotes

A collection of quotes by Albert Camus.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a renowned French philosopher, author, and journalist. He was born on November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, French Algeria, which is present-day DrÃ©an, Algeria. Camus' father died during World War I, and he grew up in poverty, moving frequently between Algiers and various French cities.

Camus gained prominence for his philosophical contributions and his literary works, which often explored themes of existentialism and the human condition. He is best known for his novels, including "The Stranger" (1942) and "The Plague" (1947), which remain widely read and studied to this day. Camus' writing style was characterized by clear prose and a concise use of language.

In addition to his literary achievements, Camus was actively engaged in political and social issues. He was associated with the French resistance during World War II and later became a prominent advocate for peace during the Algerian War of Independence. His critical stance towards both communism and capitalism earned him widespread admiration and criticism.

Unfortunately, Camus' life was cut short when he died in a car accident near Sens, France, on January 4, 1960, at the age of 46. However, his body of work continues to resonate with readers and intellectuals across the world, making him one of the most influential writers and thinkers of the 20th century.

It is impossible to give a clear account of the world, but a

It is impossible to give a clear account of the world, but art can teach us to reproduce it-just as the world reproduces itself in the course of its eternal gyrations. The primordial sea indefatigably repeats the same words and casts up the same astonished beings on the same sea-shore.

A sub-clerk in the post-office is the equal of a conqueror i

A sub-clerk in the post-office is the equal of a conqueror if consciousness is common to them.

Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in w

Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children. And if you dont help us, who else in the world can help us do this?

What the world requires of the Christians is that they shoul

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

The world in which we were called to exist was an absurd wor

The world in which we were called to exist was an absurd world, and there was no other in which we could take refuge.

For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbar

For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.

Our civilization survives in the complacency of cowardly or

Our civilization survives in the complacency of cowardly or malignant minds -- a sacrifice to the vanity of aging adolescents. In 1953, excess is always a comfort, and sometimes a career.

The most eloquent eulogy of capitalism was made by its great

The most eloquent eulogy of capitalism was made by its greatest enemy. Marx is only anti-capitalist in so far as capitalism is out of date.

Work is nothing but the slow trek to rediscover, through the

Work is nothing but the slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great images in whose presence His Or Her heart first opened.

If there is sin against life, it consists in hoping for anot

If there is sin against life, it consists in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

The society of merchants can be defined as a society in whic

The society of merchants can be defined as a society in which things disappear in favor of signs. When a ruling class measures its fortunes, not by the acre of land or the ingot of gold, but by the number of figures corresponding ideally to a certain number of exchange operations, it thereby condemns itself to setting a certain kind of humbug at the center of its experience and its universe. A society founded on signs is, in its essence, an artificial society in which man's carnal truth is handled as something artificial.

As usual I finish the day before the sea, sumptuous this eve

As usual I finish the day before the sea, sumptuous this evening beneath the moon, which writes Arab symbols with phosphorescent streaks on the slow swells. There is no end to the sky and the waters. How well they accompany sadness!

More and more, revolution has found itself delivered into th

More and more, revolution has found itself delivered into the hands of its bureaucrats and doctrinaires on the one hand, and to the enfeebled and bewildered masses on the other.

Every revolutionary ends up by becoming either an oppressor

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

At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these

At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of these trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we had clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise... that denseness and that strangeness of the world is absurd.

We are not certain, we are never certain. If we were we coul

We are not certain, we are never certain. If we were we could reach some conclusions, and we could, at last, make others take us seriously.

The real passion of the twentieth century is servitude.

The real passion of the twentieth century is servitude.

To know oneself, one should assert oneself. Psychology is ac

To know oneself, one should assert oneself. Psychology is action, not thinking about oneself. We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die.

Human relationships always help us to carry on because they

Human relationships always help us to carry on because they always presuppose further developments, a future --and also because we live as if our only task was precisely to have relationships with other people.

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.