Paneloux is a man of learning, a scholar. He hasn't come in contact with death; that's why he can speak with such assurance of the truth-with a capital T. But every country priest who visits his parishioners and has heard a man gasping for breath on his deathbed thinks as I do. He'd try to relieve human suffering before trying to point out its goodness.

It's better to bet on this life than on the next.

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

Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.

I know myself too well to believe in pure virtue.

There is a terrible emptiness in me, an indifference that hurts.

The future is the only transcendental value for men without God.