Without freedom there is no art.

For who would dare to assert that eternal happiness can compensate for a single moment's human suffering

It is not humiliating to be unhappy. Physical suffering is sometimes humiliating, but the suffering of being cannot be, it is life.

Thinking of the future, establishing aims for oneself, having preferences-all this presupposes a belief in freedom, even if one occasionally ascertains that one doesn't feel it.

I feel like getting married, or committing suicide, or subscribing to L'Illustration. Something desperate, you know.

The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

These are facts the heart can feel; yet they call for careful study before they become clear to the intellect.