Quote #43

The absurd does not liberate; it binds. It does not authorize all actions. 'Everything is permitted' does not mean that nothing is forbidden.

More from Albert Camus

  1. 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 integrit…
  2. All systems of morality are based on the idea that an action has consequences that legitimize or cancel it. A mind imbued with the absurd m…
  3. 'My field,' said Goethe, 'is time.' That is indeed the absurd speech. What, in fact, is the Absurd Man? He who, without negating it, does n…
  4. Time will prolong time, and life will serve life. In this field that is both limited and bulging with possibilities, everything to himself,…
  5. At this point of his effort man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The …
  6. A sub-clerk in the post office is the equal of a conqueror if consciousness is common to them. All experiences are indifferent in this rega…
  7. The preceding merely defines a way of thinking. But the point is to live.
  8. If the world were clear, art would not exist.

All Albert Camus quotes