Creating is living doubly. The groping, anxious quest of a Proust, his meticulous collecting of flowers, of wallpapers, and of anxieties, signifies nothing else.

Again and again there comes a time in history when the man who dares to say that two and two make four is punished with death. ("The Plague")

Men are never really willing to die except for the sake of freedom: therefore they do not believe in dying completely.

I know [my label], in any case: a double face, a charming Janus, and underneath, the house motto: "Be wary". On my business cards:"Jean-Baptiste Clamence, actor".

Proof is never definitive, after all; one has to begin again with each new person.

Liberty is the right not to lie.

Every great work makes the human face more admirable and richer, and this is its whole secret.