The consciousness that says 'I am' is not the consciousness that thinks.

In a country lacking leaders, in Africa, for instance, how could a native educated in Europe refuse to become a professor, even at the price of his literary vocation?

I have seen children dying of hunger. Over against a dying child La Nausee cannot act as a counterweight.

Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.

I have always been happy. Even if I had been more honest with regard to myself at that moment I should still have written La Nausee.

We cannot withdraw our cards from the game. Were we as silent and mute as stones, our very passivity would be an act.

You are -- your life, and nothing else.