Quotes by Albert Camus

Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.

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.

Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.

The society based on production is only productive, not creative.

To assert in any case that a man must be absolutely cut off from society because he is absolutely evil amounts to saying that society is absolutely good, and no-one in his right mind will believe this today.

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

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

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.

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.

There will be no lasting peace either in the heart of individuals or in social customs until death is outlawed.