Albert Camus Quotes

On deciding whether life is worth continuing to fight for:

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.

On finding meaning in a job that never ends:

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

On choosing presence over five year plans:

Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.

On staying in a hard climb with no guaranteed summit:

The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.

Questioning a belief system you were raised in:

Beginning to think is beginning to be undermined.

On finding resilience after a devastating loss:

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

On refusing to settle into a role that fits badly:

Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.

On standing up when staying quiet would be easier:

I rebel, therefore we exist.

On why you keep fighting a battle you might lose:

Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence.

Deciding whether to speak up against an unjust decision at work:

What is a rebel? A man who says no.

On the numbness that comes before grief actually arrives:

Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I can't be sure.

Making peace with a diagnosis or ending you cannot control:

I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.

On returning to the same creative obsession for a lifetime:

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.

Moving to a new city and wondering how to actually build a life there:

Perhaps the easiest way of making a town's acquaintance is to ascertain how the people in it work, how they love, and how they die.

Rebuilding trust in people after a community crisis or betrayal:

There are more things to admire in men than to despise.

Deciding how much patience to extend to someone who hurt you unknowingly:

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance.

Choosing between loyalty to your team and doing what is right:

I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.