Albert Camus – Page 3

Vintage 1942: The more things change, the more they…

August 3, 2016August 2, 2016 Live & Learn32 Comments

Every time I hear a political speech or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounded human. It is always the same words telling the same lies. And the fact that men accept this, that the people’s anger has not destroyed these hollow clowns, strikes me as proof that men attribute no importance to the way they are governed […]”

– Albert Camus, Notebooks, 1935-1942

Notes: Quote Source – Schonwiener. Photo: George Horner on The Bowery Billboard (via this isn’t happiness)

Be silent. Listen. Let it overflow.

October 6, 2015October 6, 2015 Live & Learn10 Comments

Notes:

Post title: By Albert Camus from Notebooks (1942-1951) (via to escape from the commonplace of existence)
Photograph: A flowering Pale Pink Poppy by Voigtf64

This whole thing is not about heroism. It’s about decency.

June 16, 2015June 15, 2015 Live & Learn27 Comments

Roger Cohen, NY Times: Mow The Law:

[…] I am less interested in the inspirational hero than I am in the myriad doers of everyday good who would shun the description heroic; less interested in the exhortation to “live your dream” than in the obligation to make a living wage.

When you think of Sisyphus — the Greek mythological figure whose devious attempt to defy the gods was punished with his condemnation to pushing a boulder up a hill and repeating the task through all eternity when it rolled down again — think above all that he has a task and it is his own. Rather than a source of despair, that may be the beginning of happiness.

In Camus’ book, “The Plague,” the doctor at the center of the novel, Bernard Rieux, battles pestilence day after day. It is a Sisyphean task. At one point he says, “I have to tell you this: This whole thing is not about heroism. It’s about decency. It may seem a ridiculous idea, but the only way to fight the plague is with decency.”

Asked what decency is, he responds: “In general, I can’t say, but in my case I know that it consists of doing my job.” Later, he adds, “I don’t think I have any taste for heroism and sainthood. What interests me is to be a man.”

In the everyday task at hand, for woman or man, happiness lurks.

Don’t miss entire op-ed column by Roger Cohen, Mow The Law

MMM.* No reason to say: ‘It had to be.’

March 2, 2015March 1, 2015 Live & Learn5 Comments

I shall not grow resigned.
With all my silence,
I shall protest to the very end.
There is no reason to say:
‘It had to be.’
It is my revolt which is right,
and it must follow this joy
which is like a pilgrim on earth,
follow it step by step.

— Albert Camus, Notebooks 1935-1942 Vol. 1

Notes: 1) MMM* = Monday Morning Mantra. 2) Photograph by Jordan Tiberio via eikadan 3) Quote: Et in Arcadia Ego* and Google Books

The watcher and the watched

March 5, 2014March 5, 2014 Live & Learn18 Comments

An intellectual? Yes. And never deny it. An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I like this, because I am happy to be both halves, the watcher and the watched. ‘Can they be brought together?’ This is a practical question. We must get down to it. ‘I despise intelligence’ really means: ‘I cannot bear my doubts.’

— Albert Camus

Painting by Tigran Tsitoghdzyan (“White Mirror, Oil on Canvas”) via Elinka Quote Source: Larmoyante

Tag: Albert Camus

Vintage 1942: The more things change, the more they…

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Be silent. Listen. Let it overflow.

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This whole thing is not about heroism. It’s about decency.

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MMM.* No reason to say: ‘It had to be.’

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The watcher and the watched

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