Albert Camus
1913–1960
9 genuine quotes, each found in the text, and 3 wrongly credited to Camus.
French writer born in Algeria, who wrote about the absurd and about revolt in novels, essays and plays, and edited the Resistance paper Combat; he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957 and died in a car crash in January 1960. Many lines quoted as his belong to his narrators and characters (Meursault, Dr Rieux, Clamence), and the internet credits him with many sayings, mostly in English, that are not in his works.
FrontispieceMade by an image model after United Press International’s photograph of Albert Camus (1957, public domain), in the manner of the French post-war visual-gag poster (1948–1979). The likeness is the original’s; this picture is AI‑generated and not historical. The endpaper behind it is an AI‑generated pattern in the same manner.
Genuine Camus quotes
- I rebel, therefore we are.
The Rebel (1951), Part I, “L’Homme révolté”.
- In the middle of winter, I was finally learning that there was an invincible summer within me.
Albert Camus, “Retour à Tipasa”, in L’Été (Paris: Gallimard, 1954); French excerpt headed “Retour à Tipasa” hosted at edder.org, “Retour à Tipasa” (collected in L’Été, 1954); paragraph beginning “Car il y a seulement de la malchance à n’être pas aimé”, as reproduced in the cited excerpt.
- One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Final sentence of the title essay, “Le mythe de Sisyphe” (before the Kafka appendix in expanded editions).
- There is only one truly serious philosophical problem: suicide.
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Opening sentence of the essay.
- It consists in preventing the world from falling apart.
Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard), Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph beginning with Camus’s generation.
- Refusing to lie about what one knows, and resisting oppression.
Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard), Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph on the two commitments of the writer’s craft.
- By definition, he cannot today put himself at the service of those who make history: he serves those who undergo it.
Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard, Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph beginning Le rôle de l’écrivain.
- Today, my mother died.
The Stranger (1942), Opening sentence (incipit), said by Meursault.
- That is why true artists despise nothing: they require themselves to understand rather than judge.
Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard, Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph beginning Je ne puis vivre personnellement sans mon art.
Quotes wrongly credited to Camus
- Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead. Walk beside me… just be my friend.
Misattributed. It is not by Camus; it was written by an unknown writer.
- Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?
Not found. It is not in Camus’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.
- There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.
Misattributed. Not a sourced Camus quotation. A closely matching sentence is documented in Albert G. Dietrich’s 1943 letter; how it became the short saying credited to Camus is unresolved.
Paraphrased: Camus’s thought, in other words
- Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Paraphrase. The idea is in Albert Camus, Le Malentendu, Act II, scene 1; in Le Malentendu suivi de Caligula. Nouvelles versions (Paris: Gallimard, 1958), digitally transcribed by Jean-Marie Tremblay for Les Classiques des sciences sociales, 2010, corrected 2011; mirror PDF, digital transcription p. 77, said by Jan.
The works we hold
Quotes are looked up word for word in these texts. The number is how many genuine quotes here come from each.
| Work | Year | Genuine quotes |
|---|---|---|
| The Stranger L’Étranger | 1942 | 1 |
| The Myth of Sisyphus Le Mythe de Sisyphe | 1942 | 2 |
| The Rebel L’Homme révolté | 1951 | 1 |