Quote #208

The night on Golgotha is so important in the history of man only because, in its shadow, the divinity abandoned its traditional privileges and drank to the last drop, despair included, the agony of death. This is the explanation of the Lama sabactani and the heartrending doubt of Christ in agony. The agony would have been mild if it had been alleviated by hopes of eternity. For God to be a man, he must despair.

More from Albert Camus

  1. The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm.
  2. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in their most profound manifestations, are centuries that have tried to live without transcendence.
  3. The most painful thing to bear is seeing a mockery made of what one loves.
  4. The philosopher, even if he is Kant, is a creator.
  5. The miner who is exploited or shot down, the slaves in the camps, those in the colonies, the legions of persecuted throughout the world - t…
  6. The punishment that aims to intimidate an unknown murderer certainly confers a vocation of killer on many another monster about whom there …
  7. The man whose blood, and extravagances, and frail heart lead him to the commonest weaknesses must rely on something in order to get to the …
  8. The real universe which, by its radiance, calls forth bodies and statues receives from them at the same time a second light that determines…

All Albert Camus quotes