Even before Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, his work was already seen as profoundly important not only in the literary world but also in the realm of philosophy.
Camus was able to effortless switch between novels, plays and essays, while always retaining his unmistakable tone and remarkably astute outlook on life. We've assembled the 20 greatest pieces of wisdom from his works to get you one step closer to that Nobel Prize of your own...
READ ABOUT THE FIRST MAN AND NINE OTHER UNFINISHED NOVELS HERE
_______________________________________________________
“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves.”
The Fall
_______________________________________________________
“Man is always prey to his truths. Once he has admitted them, he cannot free himself from them.”
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
_______________________________________________________
“When the soul suffers too much, it develops a taste for misfortune.”
The First Man
_______________________________________________________
“Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter.”
The Stranger
_______________________________________________________
“You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question.”
The Fall
_______________________________________________________
“I know that man is capable of great deeds. But if he isn't capable of great emotion, well, he leaves me cold.”
The Plague
_______________________________________________________
“Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.”
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
_______________________________________________________
“There is not love of life without despair about life.”
The Stranger
_______________________________________________________
“The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.”
The Plague
_______________________________________________________
“There is scarcely any passion without struggle.”
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
_______________________________________________________
“But sometimes it takes more courage to live than to shoot yourself.”
A Happy Death
_______________________________________________________
“Believe me, for certain men at least, not taking what one doesn't desire is the hardest thing in the world.”
The Fall
_______________________________________________________
“Nothing in the world is worth turning one's back on what one loves.”
The Plague
_______________________________________________________
“Man cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard.”
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
_______________________________________________________
“It is better to burn than to disappear.”
The Stranger
_______________________________________________________
“I like people who dream or talk to themselves interminably; I like them, for they are double. They are here and elsewhere.”
The Fall
_______________________________________________________
“It is in the thick of calamity that one gets hardened to the truth - in other words, to silence.”
The Plague
_______________________________________________________
“One always has exaggerated ideas about what one doesn't know.”
The Stranger
_______________________________________________________
“There are more things to admire in men then to despise.”
The Plague
_______________________________________________________
“Remembrance of things past is is just for the rich. For the poor it only marks the faint traces on the path to death.”
The First Man
_______________________________________________________
(Images: Rex Features)
Latest
Related Reviews and Shortlists
10 Best wet shavers for men
