Refusing to lie about what one knows, and resisting oppression.
Genuine
Yes. In Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard).
Checked against Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard), in a full-text transcription.
- Where
- Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph on the two commitments of the writer’s craft
- Translation
- Our own, not yet reviewed (no public-domain translation in our sources)
- Source
- Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard)
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 25 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
Camus describes the service of truth and liberty as difficult responsibilities that give writing its public value. This phrase names the two commitments in which he says the dignity of the craft is rooted. He explicitly acknowledges writers’ personal weaknesses rather than claiming that writers are morally infallible.
What it means
A writer’s public responsibility requires intellectual honesty and resistance to domination.
Often misread
This is a standard for the writer’s craft, not Camus certifying his own or every writer’s personal virtue. The qualifying words about what one knows make the refusal of deliberate falsehood central.
Topics
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- It consists in preventing the world from falling apart.
- Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err and even to sin. Mahatma Gandhi
- Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. Bernard Baruch
- If someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth, and it really were so that the truth is outside Christ, I would rather remain with Christ than with the truth. Fyodor Dostoevsky
Cite it
Albert Camus, Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/refusal-to-lie-and-resistance-to-oppression/ (25 October 2026).
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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.
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