Albert Camus — Quote from The Stranger
“People never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another and that I wasn't dissatisfied with mine here at all.”
The Stranger (1942)
Concepts: absurd, conformity, meaning
Resonant Quotes
- “Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness ...” — Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea Both quotes capture existentialist resignation to life's fundamental meaninglessness—Sartre's cosmic accident produci...
- “The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meanin...” — Václav Havel, Letters to Olga Havel's observation about diminishing concern for life's meaning perfectly diagnoses the psychological state Camus de...
- “What I really need is to get clear about what I must do, not what I must know...” — Søren Kierkegaard, Journals These quotes present opposing existential stances—Camus's resigned acceptance of life's equivalence directly contradi...
- “What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your lonelies...” — Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science Camus's indifference to life's possibilities becomes philosophically tested by Nietzsche's eternal recurrence—would s...
- “So it goes.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five Both express a fatalistic acceptance of existence's unchangeable nature—Camus through resigned indifference to life's...
- “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort o...” — Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science Camus's resigned acceptance of life's equivalence reflects the practical aftermath of Nietzsche's proclaimed death of...
- “In the struggle between yourself and the world, second the world.” — Franz Kafka, The Zuerau Aphorisms Camus's resigned acceptance of life's equivalence embodies Kafka's counsel to surrender to the world's overwhelming f...
- “If God does not exist, everything is permitted.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov Camus's indifferent acceptance of life's equivalence represents one response to Dostoevsky's moral vacuum—neither des...