By definition, he cannot today put himself at the service of those who make history: he serves those who undergo it.
Genuine
Yes. In Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard.
Checked against Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard, in a full-text transcription.
- Where
- Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph beginning Le rôle de l’écrivain
- 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; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 29 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
Accepting the Nobel Prize, Camus turns from art’s relation to the human community to the writer’s difficult responsibilities. The pronoun refers to the writer. He contrasts marching with tyranny’s armies with making an unknown, humiliated prisoner’s silence heard through art.
What it means
Writers should stand with people subjected to historical power rather than become instruments of the people who wield it.
Often misread
This does not call writers to withdraw from history or political responsibility. The paragraph specifically gives them the responsibility of making otherwise unheard suffering audible.
Topics
Related quotes
- Refusing to lie about what one knows, and resisting oppression.
- It consists in preventing the world from falling apart.
- That is why true artists despise nothing: they require themselves to understand rather than judge.
- Peace is never long preserved by weight of metal or by an armament race. Bernard Baruch
- Power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Martin Luther King Jr.
Cite it
Albert Camus, Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/the-writer-serves-those-who-suffer-history/ (29 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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