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To work and create 'for nothing,' to sculpture in clay, to know that one's creation has no future, to see one's work destroyed in a day while being aware that fundamentally this has no more importance than building for centuries - this is the difficult wisdom that absurd thought sanctions. Performing these two tasks simultaneously, negating on the one hand and magnifying on the other, is the way open to the absurd creator. He must give the void its colors.

Albert Camus#235

MeaningCreationAbsurdismAbsurdityWork

About this quote

What does it mean?
True wisdom lies in creating despite knowing the work may be destroyed, balancing negation with magnification.
In plain terms
Create art even if it has no future, because the act itself matters.
What can you take from it?
Find meaning in creation regardless of the outcome.

Where it applies

  • writing or art
  • facing inevitable loss

Putting it to work

  • create without attachment to results
  • embrace the void

Questions to consider

  • Why create if nothing lasts?
  • How do you find value in futile work?

Another view

Ignoring long-term impact might lead to wasteful efforts.

More from Albert Camus

  1. To tell the truth, far from being romantic, I believe in the necessity of a rule and an order. I merely say that there can be no question of just any rule what…

    Permalink to quote #234
  2. Totalitarian tyranny is not based on the virtues of the totalitarians. It is based on the mistakes of the liberals.

    Permalink to quote #236
  3. To impoverish that reality whose inhumanity constitutes man's majesty is tantamount to impoverishing him himself. I understand then why the doctrines that expl…

    Permalink to quote #233

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