Albert Camus Quotes

Most popular Albert Camus Quotes

A work of art is a confession. - Albert Camus quote.
A work of art is a confession.
— Albert Camus Notebooks, 1935–42

art

Integrity has no need of rules. - Albert Camus quote.
Integrity has no need of rules.
— Albert Camus

character morals integrity

Peace is the only battle worth waging. - Albert Camus quote.
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
— Albert Camus Combat

peace

Can one be a saint if God does not exist? - Albert Camus quote.
Can one be a saint if God does not exist?
— Albert Camus The Plague

saint

To know oneself, one should assert oneself. - Albert Camus quote.
To know oneself, one should assert oneself.
— Albert Camus
The innocent is the person who explains nothing. - Albert Camus quote.
The innocent is the person who explains nothing.
— Albert Camus

silence

Art and revolt will die only with the last human. - Albert Camus quote.
Art and revolt will die only with the last human.
— Albert Camus
You cannot create experience. You must undergo it. - Albert Camus quote.
You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.
— Albert Camus

experience

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. - Albert Camus quote.
Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.
— Albert Camus

freedom self-improvement

To grow old is to pass from passion to compassion. - Albert Camus quote.
To grow old is to pass from passion to compassion.
— Albert Camus

compassion

An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. - Albert Camus quote.
An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.
— Albert Camus Notebooks, 1935-1942

intellectuals

To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others. - Albert Camus quote.
To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.
— Albert Camus
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. - Albert Camus quote.
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
— Albert Camus

autumn

Don't wait for the Last Judgement. It happens every day. - Albert Camus quote.
Don't wait for the Last Judgement. It happens every day.
— Albert Camus
A novel is never anything but a philosophy put into images. - Albert Camus quote.
A novel is never anything but a philosophy put into images.
— Albert Camus Alger républicain

novels

Everything considered, a determined soul will always manage. - Albert Camus quote.
Everything considered, a determined soul will always manage.

determination

The temptation shared by all forms of intelligence: cynicism. - Albert Camus quote.
The temptation shared by all forms of intelligence: cynicism.
— Albert Camus Notebooks, 1935-1942

cynicism

An achievement is a bondage. It obliges one to a higher achievement. - Albert Camus quote.
An achievement is a bondage. It obliges one to a higher achievement.
— Albert Camus Notebooks: 1942-1951

achievement

Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. - Albert Camus quote.
Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.
— Albert Camus
Intelligence in chains loses in lucidity what it gains in intensity. - Albert Camus quote.
Intelligence in chains loses in lucidity what it gains in intensity.
— Albert Camus The Rebel

intelligence

A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession. - Albert Camus quote.
A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.
— Albert Camus

art conscience

Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present. - Albert Camus quote.
Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.
— Albert Camus The Rebel

generosity future

There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night. - Albert Camus quote.
There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.

losing our way

One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it. - Albert Camus quote.
One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it.
— Albert Camus

life as a journey know yourself losing our way

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. - Albert Camus quote.
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.
— Albert Camus

suicide

It is normal give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all. - Albert Camus quote.
It is normal give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all.
— Albert Camus Notebooks, 1935-1942

Giving

What I know most surely about morality and the duty of man I owe to sport. - Albert Camus quote.
What I know most surely about morality and the duty of man I owe to sport.
— Albert Camus Albert Camus: A Biography

sports

Freedom is not constituted primarily of privileges but of responsibilities. - Albert Camus quote.
Freedom is not constituted primarily of privileges but of responsibilities.
— Albert Camus

freedom

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. - Albert Camus quote.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
— Albert Camus
It is terrifying to see how easily, in certain people, all dignity collapses. - Albert Camus quote.
It is terrifying to see how easily, in certain people, all dignity collapses.
— Albert Camus Notebooks, 1935-1942

dignity

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. - Albert Camus quote.
Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
— Albert Camus
All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State. - Albert Camus quote.
All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.
— Albert Camus

revolution power

Too many people have decided to do without generosity in order to practice charity. - Albert Camus quote.
Too many people have decided to do without generosity in order to practice charity.
— Albert Camus The Fall

charity

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. - Albert Camus quote.
In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
— Albert Camus

adversity confidence attitude

Without work, all life is rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies. - Albert Camus quote.
Without work, all life is rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.
— Albert Camus
Charm is a way of getting the answer 'yes' without having asked any clear questions. - Albert Camus quote.
Charm is a way of getting the answer 'yes' without having asked any clear questions.
— Albert Camus The Fall

charm

Without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies. - Albert Camus quote.
Without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.
— Albert Camus Good Work

work

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. - Albert Camus quote.
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
— Albert Camus
The future is the only kind of property that the masters willingly concede to the slaves. - Albert Camus quote.
The future is the only kind of property that the masters willingly concede to the slaves.
— Albert Camus The Rebel

future

He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool. - Albert Camus quote.
He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.
— Albert Camus

the human condition hope

Man wants to live, but it is useless to hope that this desire will dictate all his actions. - Albert Camus quote.
Man wants to live, but it is useless to hope that this desire will dictate all his actions.
— Albert Camus
You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them. - Albert Camus quote.
You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them.
— Albert Camus The Fall

generosity

Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be, and humor for what they actually are. - Albert Camus quote.
Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be, and humor for what they actually are.
— Albert Camus

imagination

The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.  One must imagine Sisyphus happy. - Albert Camus quote.
The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.  One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

struggle

A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad. - Albert Camus quote.
A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.
— Albert Camus

media government free press press

Martyrs, cher ami, must choose between being forgotten, mocked, or made use of.  As for being understood—never. - Albert Camus quote.
Martyrs, cher ami, must choose between being forgotten, mocked, or made use of.  As for being understood—never.
— Albert Camus The Fall

martyr

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

love relationships

Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. - Albert Camus quote.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
— Albert Camus

friendship

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. - Albert Camus quote.
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
— Albert Camus

freedom

Freedom is not a gift received from a State or a leader but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all. - Albert Camus quote.
Freedom is not a gift received from a State or a leader but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all.
— Albert Camus Resistance, Rebellion and Death

freedom

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. - Albert Camus quote.
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
— Albert Camus

happiness purpose of life

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, that it is inside ourselves. - Albert Camus quote.
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, that it is inside ourselves.
— Albert Camus Notebooks

war

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door. - Albert Camus quote.
All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.
— Albert Camus

ideas

After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books. - Albert Camus quote.
After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books.
— Albert Camus

books

A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened. - Albert Camus quote.
A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.
— Albert Camus

art

What is a rebel?  A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply renunciation.  He is also a man who says yes, from the moment he makes his first gesture of rebellion. - Albert Camus quote.
What is a rebel?  A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply renunciation.  He is also a man who says yes, from the moment he makes his first gesture of rebellion.
— Albert Camus The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt

saying no rebels saying Yes

At thirty, a man should have himself well in hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures—be what he is. And above all accept these things. - Albert Camus quote.
At thirty, a man should have himself well in hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures—be what he is. And above all accept these things.
— Albert Camus Carnets: 1942–1951

self-acceptance

This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart. - Albert Camus quote.
This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart.
— Albert Camus The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

clarity

The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foot-hold. It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism. - Albert Camus quote.
The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foot-hold. It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism.
— Albert Camus

mind knowledge

Manhattan.  Sometimes from beyond the skyscrapers, across the hundreds of thousands of high walls, the cry of a tugboat finds you in your insomnia in the middle of the night, and you remember that this desert of iron and cement is an island. - Albert Camus quote.
Manhattan.  Sometimes from beyond the skyscrapers, across the hundreds of thousands of high walls, the cry of a tugboat finds you in your insomnia in the middle of the night, and you remember that this desert of iron and cement is an island.
— Albert Camus American Journals

New York City

Superhuman is merely the term for tasks we take a long time to accomplish.
— Albert Camus

motivational

In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
— Albert Camus Return to Tipasa, Personal Writings

inspirational

I want to keep my lucidity to the last, and gaze upon my death with all the fullness of my jealousy and horror.
— Albert Camus
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
— Albert Camus

friendship

Our task as humans is to find the few principles that will calm the infinite anguish of free souls. We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness a meaning once more to peoples poisoned by the misery of the century. It is a superhuman task. But superhuman is the term for tasks we take a long time to accomplish, that's all.
— Albert Camus

purpose of life