Albert Camus 1913 – 1960
Albert Camus was a 20th-century French philosopher, novelist, and journalist, born in French Algeria, who developed the philosophical position known as absurdism. His 1942 essay The Myth of Sisyphus opens with the claim that there is only one truly serious philosophical problem, that of suicide, and proposes a defiant embrace of life in the face of its apparent meaninglessness. His novels The Stranger and The Plague, and his later philosophical work The Rebel, explore themes of moral responsibility, political violence, and the human capacity for revolt. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Camus rejected the existentialist label associated with Sartre, but his work is generally read alongside it as a distinct strand of post-war French thought.
Key facts
- Nationality
- French
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Absurdism, Existentialism, Continental
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Albert Camus:
“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
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Attributed to Albert Camus:
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
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Attributed to Albert Camus:
“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.”
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Attributed to Albert Camus:
“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”
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Attributed to Albert Camus:
“I rebel; therefore we exist.”
Quotes that are not actually from Albert Camus
These lines are widely circulated as Albert Camus, but they do not appear in Albert Camus's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
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“Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
This sentimental verse is widely circulated as Albert Camus, but no source has been found in his published works, journals, or correspondence. Researchers including Quote Investigator have traced it to anonymous greeting-card and bookmark verse circulating from the mid-20th century onward; it has also been spuriously attributed to Khalil Gibran and other authors. There is no evidence it is from Camus.