Sometimes at night I would sleep open-eyed underneath a sky dripping with stars. I was alive then.

I enjoyed my own nature to the fullest, and we all know there lies happiness, although, to soothe one another mutually, we occasionally pretend to condemn such joys as selfishness.

The more I produce, the less I am certain. On the road along which the artist walks, night falls ever more densely. Finally, he dies blind.

... We need the sweet pain of anticipation to tell us we are really alive.

The more I accuse myself, the more right I have to judge you. Even better, I make you judge yourself, which comforts me the more.

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".

History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.