Albert Camus

“The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone.”

“Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.”

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

“I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.”

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”

“To know oneself, one should assert oneself.”

“Truly fertile Music, the only kind that will move us, that we shall truly appreciate, will be a Music conducive to Dream, which banishes all reason and analysis. One must not wish first to understand and then to feel. Art does not tolerate Reason.”

“After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books.”

“Real nobility is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference.”

“Men are convinced of your arguments, your sincerity, and the seriousness of your efforts only by your death.”

“We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking. In that race which daily hastens us towards death, the body maintains its irreparable lead.”

“It is a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money.”

“How can sincerity be a condition of friendship? A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing.”

“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.”

“The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foot-hold. It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism.”

“As a remedy to life in society I would suggest the big city. Nowadays, it is the only desert within our means.”

“We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love - first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.”

“The desire for possession is insatiable, to such a point that it can survive even love itself. To love, therefore, is to sterilize the person one loves.”

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

“Retaliation is related to nature and instinct, not to law. Law, by definition, cannot obey the same rules as nature.”

“The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth.”

“I know of only one duty, and that is to love.”

“Alas, after a certain age every man is responsible for his face.”