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ad30bd5
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For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life she had taken a 'fiance,' why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too.
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Albert Camus |
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12a1971
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But again and again there comes a time in history when the man who dares to say that two and two make four is punished with death. The schoolteacher is well aware of this. And the question is not one of knowing what punishment or reward attends the making of this calculation. The question is one of knowing whether two and two do make four
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Albert Camus |
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3f693bc
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We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking.
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Albert Camus |
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933dc46
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To lose one's life is no great matter; when the time comes I'll have the courage to lose mine. But what's intolerable is to see one's life being drained of meaning, to be told there's no reason for existing. A man can't live without some reason for living.
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Albert Camus |
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ead14c2
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This very heart which is mine will forever remain indefinable to me. Between the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that assurance, the gap will never be filled. Forever I shall be a stranger to myself.
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Albert Camus |
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7f53cc2
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Well, personally, I've seen enough of people who die for an idea. I don't believe in heroism; I know it's easy and I've learned that it can be murderous. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves.
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Albert Camus |
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a408d60
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At that time, I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowing overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it.
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profound
meursault
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Albert Camus |
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735ff05
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Whatever we may do, excess will always keep its place in the heart of man, in the place where solitude is found. We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and in others.
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Albert Camus |
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5af8cee
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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.
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Albert Camus |
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24344bd
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But above all, in order to be, never try to seem.
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seem
authenticity
be
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Albert Camus |
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4874229
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Thus, I always began by assuming the worst; my appeal was dismissed. That meant, of course, I was to die. Sooner than others, obviously. 'But,' I reminded myself, 'it's common knowledge that life isn't worth living, anyhow.' And, on a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or threescore and ten-- since, in either case, other men will continue living, the world will go on as before. Also,..
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Albert Camus |
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e7acf96
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There can be no question of holding forth on ethics. I have seen people behave badly with great morality and I note every day that integrity has no need of rules
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morality
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Albert Camus |
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31ec997
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Believe me, for certain men at least, not taking what one doesn't desire is the hardest thing in the world.
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men
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Albert Camus |
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526323a
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Nothing in the world is worth turning one's back on what one loves.
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Albert Camus |
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b300612
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I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.
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Albert Camus |
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38251b7
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People don't love each other at our age, Marthe--they please each other, that's all. Later on, when you're old and impotent, you can love someone. At our age, you just think you do. That's all it is.
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old-age
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Albert Camus |
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e401156
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We're going forward, but nothing changes.
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Albert Camus |
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666b2d2
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I have a very old and very faithful attachment for dogs. I like them because they always forgive.
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Albert Camus |
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7cba900
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Thus I progressed on the surface of life, in the realm of words as it were, never in reality. All those books barely read, those friends barely loved, those cities barely visited, those women barely possessed! I went through the gestures out of boredom or absent-mindedness. Then came human beings; they wanted to cling, but there was nothing to cling to, and that was unfortunate--for them. As for me, I forgot. I never remembered anything but..
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Albert Camus |
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e3ba038
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There is a terrible emptiness in me, an indifference that hurts.
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Albert Camus |
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f8d16d3
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I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings.
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Albert Camus |
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06e6741
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The absurd is lucid reason noting its limits.
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Albert Camus |
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d3953b3
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But,' I reminded myself, 'it's common knowledge that life isn't worth living, anyhow.
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Albert Camus |
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b2fe7f4
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From the moment absurdity is recognized, it becomes a passion, the most harrowing of all. But whether or not one can live with one's passions, whether or not one can accept their law, which is to burn the heart they simultaneously exalt - that is the whole question.
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Albert Camus |
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4fadf84
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Ah cher ami, how poor in invention men are! They are They always think one commits suicide for a reason. But it's quite possible to commit suicide for two reasons. No, that never occurs to them. So what's the good of dying intentionally, of sacrificing yourself to the idea you want people to have of you? Once you are dead, they will take advantage of it to attribute idiotic or vulgar motives to your action. Martyrs, cher ami, must choose be..
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Albert Camus |
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b54f3ba
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There are more things to admire in men then to despise.
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Albert Camus |
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1929996
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What really counted was the possibility of escape, a leap of freedom, out of the implacable ritual, a wild run for it that would give whatever chance for hope there was. Of course, hope meant being cut down on some street corner, as you ran like mad, by a random bullet. But when I really thought it through, nothing was going to allow me such a luxury. Everything was against it; I would just be caught up in the machinery again.
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Albert Camus |
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7fa7be7
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Why should it be essential to love rarely in order to love much?
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Albert Camus |
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c7aad5d
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You have so much inside you, and the noblest happiness of all. Don't just wait for a man to come along. That's the mistake so many women make. Find your happiness in yourself.
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Albert Camus |
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52fce26
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A single sentence will suffice for modern man. He fornicated and read the papers. After that vigorous definition, the subject will be, if I may say so, exhausted.
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Albert Camus |
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30f8134
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Of whom and of what can I say: "I know that"! This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction. For if I try to seize this self of which I feel sure, if I try to define and to summarize it, it is nothing but water slipping through my fingers. I can sketch one by one all the aspects it is able to assume, all thos..
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existence
knowledge
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Albert Camus |
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7f7afb0
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Creating is living doubly. The groping, anxious quest of a Proust, his meticulous collecting of flowers, of wallpapers, and of anxieties, signifies nothing else.
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creating
wallpaper
marcel-proust
art
flowers
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Albert Camus |
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3b81ce7
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I was assailed by memories of a life that wasn't mine anymore, but one in which I'd found the simplest and most lasting joys: the smells of summer, the part of town I loved, a certain evening sky, Marie's dresses and the way she laughed.
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memories
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Albert Camus |
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d14ad03
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Man cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard.
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Albert Camus |
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7021f20
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Beginning to think is beginning to be undermined. Society has but little connection with such beginnings. The worm is in man's heart. That is where it must be sought. One must follow and understand this fatal game that leads from lucidity in the face of existence to flight from light.
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suicide
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Albert Camus |
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d1e81bc
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I'm going to tell you something: thoughts are never honest. Emotions are.
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Albert Camus |
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8dfe868
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I would rather not have upset him, but I couldn't see any reason to change my life. Looking back on it, I wasn't unhappy. When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered.
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Albert Camus |
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2d372eb
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Who taught you all this, doctor?
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the-plague
|
albert camus |
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473f3cc
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Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee? But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.
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Albert Camus |
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a46cff0
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There is no longer a single idea explaining everything, but an infinite number of essences giving a meaning to an infinite number of objects. The world comes to a stop, but also lights up.
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the-myth-of-sisyphus
the-world
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Albert Camus |
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681a5f9
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To stay or to go, it amounted to the same thing.
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philosophy
existentialism
choices
|
Albert Camus |
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9a9c622
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Everything is true, and nothing is true!
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Albert Camus |
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3b77c26
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But too many people now climb onto the cross merely to be seen from a greater distance, even if they have to trample somewhat on the one who has been there so long.
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Albert Camus |
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2fd6870
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Whereas during those months of separation time had never gone quickly enough for their liking and they were wanting to speed its flight, now that they were in sight of the town they would have liked to slow it down and hold each moment in suspense, once the breaks went on and the train was entering the station. For the sensation, confused perhaps, but none the less poingant for that, of all those days and weeks and months of life lost to th..
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love
separation
|
Albert Camus |