In Oran, as elsewhere, for want of time and thought, people have to love one another without knowing it.

The laws of nature may be operative up to a certain limit, beyond which they turn against themselves to give birth to the absurd.

He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.

So the thing that bothered me most was that the condemned man had to hope the machine would work the first time.

Everyone would like to behave like a pagan, with everyone else behaving like a Christian.

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

We all carry within us places of exile, our crimes, our ravages. Our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to transform them in ourselves and others.