Death means nothing to men like me. It's the event that proves them right.

To understand one's world, one must sometimes turn away from it! To serve better, one must briefly hold it at a distance. Where can the necessary solitude be found, the long breathing space in which mind gathers its strength and takes stock of its courage.

A fate is not a punishment.

Camus himself described this work as 'an attempt to understand the time I live in'.

Of course, true love is exceptional - two or three times a century, more or less. The rest of the time there is vanity or boredom.

No code of ethics and no effort are justifiable a priori in the face of the cruel mathematics that command our condition.

Each generation doubtless feels called upon to reform the world. Mine knows that it will not reform it, but its task is perhaps even greater. It consists in preventing the world from destroying itself.