Albert Camus — Quote from The Myth of Sisyphus

“A man without hope and conscious of being so has ceased to belong to the future.”

The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)

Concepts: absurd, freedom, alienation

Resonant Quotes

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort o...” — Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science Camus's hopeless man exemplifies the concrete lived consequence of Nietzsche's cosmic diagnosis, showing how theologi...
“Modern man, freed from the bonds of pre-individualistic society, which simult...” — Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom Both diagnose modernity's spiritual crisis where liberation from traditional structures leaves individuals existentia...
“Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness ...” — Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea Sartre's cosmic meaninglessness provides the ontological foundation for Camus's psychological observation about hope'...
“Do it or do not do it — you will regret both.” — Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or Both illuminate how consciousness can become a prison—Camus shows how hopeless awareness severs one from future possi...
“Beyond a certain point there is no return. This point has to be reached.” — Franz Kafka, The Trial Both identify irreversible thresholds in human experience—Camus's hopeless consciousness and Kafka's point of no retu...
“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is respon...” — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness These quotes reveal existentialism's paradox: radical freedom becomes paralyzing when consciousness of meaninglessnes...
“A comfortable, smooth, reasonable, democratic unfreedom prevails in advanced ...” — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man Camus's hopeless individual and Marcuse's comfortable conformist both represent states where authentic agency toward ...
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” — Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety Kierkegaard's anxiety before infinite possibility and Camus's hopeless consciousness both capture existential states ...