Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Saving thought means accepting the world is often unknowable and focusing attention on humanity.
In plain terms
Accept the world is unclear and focus on people.
What can you take from it?
Accept the world's mystery and focus on human beings.

Where it applies

  • philosophical debate
  • problem solving
  • ethical reasoning

Putting it to work

  • prioritize human needs
  • accept limits of knowledge

Questions to consider

  • Can we understand the world fully?
  • Where should attention go?

Another view

Accepting unintelligibility may hinder scientific progress.

More from Albert Camus

  1. There is always a philosophy for lack of courage.

    Permalink to quote #69
  2. Poor and free rather than rich and enslaved. Of course, men want to be both rich and free, and this is what leads them at times to be poor and enslaved.

    Permalink to quote #71
  3. So many men are deprived of grace. How can one live without grace? One has to try it and do what Christianity never did: be concerned with the damned.

    Permalink to quote #68

Related quotes

  1. We cannot observe external things without some degree of Thought; nor can we reflect upon our Thoughts, without being influenced in the course of our reflectio…

    William WhewellWilliam Whewell quote #2
  2. Conclui, como se conclui sempre em Filosofia, que me encontrava diante duma Causa Primaria, portanto impenetravel.

    Jose Maria Eca de QueirozJose Maria Eca de Queiroz quote #3
  3. The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

    Pliny the ElderPliny the Elder quote #3