The absurd hero's refusal to hope becomes his singular ability to live in the present with passion.

We are condemned to live together.

After a short silence the doctor raised himself a little in his chair and asked if Tarrou had an idea of the path to follow for attaining peace. "Yes, he replied. "The path of sympathy.

I don't want to be a genius-I have enough problems just trying to be a man.

If you keep on excusing, you eventually give your blessing to the slave camp, to cowardly force, to organized executioners, to the cynicism of great political monsters; you finally hand over your brothers.

Whoever gives nothing, has nothing. The greatest misfortune is not to be unloved, but not to love.

Nothing is given to mankind and what little men can conquer must be paid for with unjust death. But man's grandeur lies elsewhere, in his decision to rise above his condition.