There is only one truly serious philosophical problem: suicide.
Genuine
Yes. In The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Opening sentence of the essay.
Checked against Albert Camus, Le mythe de Sisyphe: Essai sur l’absurde (Gallimard, Folio essais 11, edition published 21 February 1985, ISBN 9782070322886); opening sentence reproduced in Gallimard’s Cercle de l’enseignement catalogue, in a full-text transcription.
The wording people share differs slightly from the text; the words in the text are underlined below.
- Work
- The Myth of Sisyphus (Le Mythe de Sisyphe), 1942
- Where
- Opening sentence of the essay
- Translation
- Our own, not yet reviewed (no public-domain translation in our sources)
- Source
- Albert Camus, Le mythe de Sisyphe: Essai sur l’absurde (Gallimard, Folio essais 11, edition published 21 February 1985, ISBN 9782070322886); opening sentence reproduced in Gallimard’s Cercle de l’enseignement catalogue
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 24 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
Camus opens the essay by making the question of whether life is worth living prior to other philosophical questions. The Société des Études camusiennes reads the book through the tension between this opening and its ending with Sisyphus’s happiness. It treats the absurd as a starting point for thought, rather than the final conclusion that life should be abandoned.
What it means
Before debating abstract systems, philosophy must confront whether living is worthwhile.
Often misread
The priority given to the question is not an endorsement of suicide. Reading the opening without the essay’s closing affirmation of Sisyphus’s life reverses the direction of the argument.
Topics
Related quotes
- One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
- Loss is nothing else than change. Marcus Aurelius
- The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. (paraphrase) Henry David Thoreau
- Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. (paraphrase) Aristotle
- It consists in preventing the world from falling apart.
Sources
Cite it
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Opening sentence of the essay, our own translation. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/one-truly-serious-philosophical-problem/ (24 October 2026).
Have a different wording, or a source we missed? Check it or submit it.
Do you hold the rights to anything on this page? Tell us.
Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
Comments