Chapter 15, - Camus stated that within all of us exists a certain 'plague,' the deep existential problem which states that at any moment our freedom, integrity and our own lives can be taken from us with any freak accident. ", "Death means nothing to men like me. In this beautiful and haunting passage, Camus articulates what it feels like to be dealing with the plague. world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is At the beginning of a pestilence and when it ends, there's always a propensity for rhetoric. Taking careful aim, the old man would spit vigorously at the cats and . As for the rest, we must hold fast, trusting in the divine goodness, even as to the deaths of little children, and not seeking personal respite. Larry McMurtry, quote from Lonesome Dove, I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny. It helps men to rise above themselves. 87, Quote 8: " the dreary struggle in progress between each man's happiness and the abstractions of the plague." Readers don't get to find out what he decides until the final chapter of the book. As for the rest, we must hold fast, trusting in the divine goodness, even as to the deaths of little children, and not seeking personal respite." Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. That's the problem, infactthe only problem, I'm up against today. ", "Can one be a saint without God? Photo by Heike Huslage-Koch/Lesekreis. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, What on earth prompted you to take a hand in this? Happiness, Ambition, Air. 2 They considered themselves free and no one will ever be free as long as there is plague, pestilence and famine. Summary & Analysis Part I: Chapters 1-3 Part I: Chapters 4-8 Part II: Chapters 9-10 Part II: Chapters 11-14 Part II: Chapters 15-17 Part III: Chapter 18 Part IV: Chapters 19-25 While we loved each other we didn't need words to make ourselves understood. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, Am well. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, I was very fond of you, but now Im so, so tired. 300, Quote 29: " what we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise." "Memorable Quotes From 'The Plague' by Camus." ""Comprehension. 227, Quote 21: "And that, too, is natural enough. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. When an innocent youth can have his eyes destroyed, a Christian should either lose his faith or consent to having his eyes destroyed. Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people The sun spread reddish-gold light through the shining bushes, among which a few goats wandered, bleating. Lex Fridman: In quiet steps, a sage proceeds, With gentle heart, in word and deed, A tapestry of shades entwined, In depth and hope, his soul, refined. Tarrou disdains the reaction of the government to the plague, saying that what is needed is imagination, not orders, to solve the problem. . I have some more in mind but these are my favorites, especially White Shroud Yes, I've been ashamed ever since; I have realized that we all haveplague, and I have lost my peace. Part 3, pg. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous Strongest of these emotions was the sense of exile and of deprivation, with all the crosscurrents of revolt and fear set up by these. Chapter 19, - Yes, I've been ashamed ever since; I have realized that we all have plague, and I have lost my peace." There should be some memory of the collectivism and community fostered, some recognition that what is actually importantfamily, health, loveshould take precedence over making money and pursuing pleasure. 199, Quote 18: "Until now I always felt a stranger in this town, and that I'd no concern with you people. Plagues and pestilences are just simply only one manifestation of this existential struggle. ""I don't know. He met it with, well, actually, he didn't meet it at all. Need analysis for a quote we don't cover? But it could be expressed only in the conventional language with which men try to express what unites them with mankind in general; a vocabulary quite unsuited, for example, to Grand's small daily effort" Part 2, pg. The word plague had just been uttered for the first time. Chapter 17, - Moreover, the epidemic seemed to be on the wane; on some days only ten or so deaths were notified. offer you some of the highlights. Chapter 13, - ", "Until now I always felt a stranger in this town, and that I'd no concern with you people. 37, Quote 5: "Thus, for example, a feeling normally as individual as the ache of separation from those one loves suddenly became a feeling in which all shared alike and-together with fear-the greatest affliction of the long period of exile that lay ahead." 73, Quote 7: " you can't understand. But if he isn't capable of great emotion, well, he leaves me cold. "Good God, the souls of all my tribe defend from jealousy" - Iago. Thats what he meant to say., All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilence and there are victims, and its up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences. And this difficulty in finding his words had come to be the bane of his life. On plague, pandemic, and constant vigilance: "'All the resthealth, integrity, purity (if you like)is a product of a vigilance that must never falter. Could it be that a sudden gentleness showed in those hard, inexpressive eyes? Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, . Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Albert Camus . He received the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature. "He has an insight into the anomalies in the lives of the people here who, though they have an instinctive craving for human contacts, can't bring themselves to yield to it, because of the mistrust that keeps them apart. Every bleat of the politicians echoes those in authority during Camus' fictitious plague in Oran: "There are no rats in the building", insists the janitor as they die around him. ", "To some, the sermon simply brought home the fact that they had been sentenced, for an unknown crime, to an indeterminate period of punishment. To Harry's intense embarrassment, he suddenly realized that Dumbledore's bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knee. Chapter 7, - Dr. Bernard Rieux, Part 1, Chapter 3 The man who spits on cats is a character who illustrates the absurd because his action has no greater meaning, yet he takes delight in it. ", "Evening after evening gave its truest,mournfulestexpression to the blind endurance that had outlasted love from all our hearts. He believes that people are basically good, and that ignorance is their worst vice. Abstraction for him was all that stood in the way of happiness., Hostile to the past, impatient of the present, and cheated of the future, we were much like those whom mens justice, or hatred, forces to live behind prison bars., Ive been thinking it over for years. This line, which appears toward the beginning of the novel, foreshadows the end of the novel, when the narrator reveals his reason for writing is so people will not forget what happened. What code, if I may ask? But now that I've seen what I have seen, I know that I belong here whether I want it or not. It is cosmically unlikely that the developed world will choose to end its orgy of fossil energy consumption, and the Third World its suicidal consumption of landscape. ", "There's no question of heroism in all this. Web. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing." Albert Camus, The Plague tags: afterlife , compassion , life , religion "They fancied themselves free," Camus' narrator says of Oran's townspeople, "and no one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences." The novel proceeds to illustrate just how devastating a deadly epidemic can be to our most cherished notions. Paneloux is right, Tarrou continued. In those fever-hot, nerve-ridden sickrooms crazy scenes took place., Thus each of us had to be content to live only for the day, alone under the vast indifference of the sky., What we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise., Thus the first thing that plague brought to our town was exile., At first the fact of being cut off from the outside world was accepted with a more or less good grace, much as people would have put up with any other temporary inconvenience that interfered with only a few of their habits. I'vea very different idea of love. ", "No, Father. You know, The Fall, the one where Clamence monologues to a stranger at a bar for days on endhe must enjoy it as he returns again and again while also accompanying Clamence on walksand he . Why do you yourself show such devotion, considering you dont believe in God? 179, Quote 15: " the habit of despair is worse than despair itself." Part 5, pg. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-plague-quotes-738216. [in Oran] everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Nothing is worth turning one's back on what one loves that is what I'm doing. Christmas day? Such chronicles have heroes and epic sacrifices, definitive and tidy ends to the crises. As the world communicates more and They were assured, of course, of the inerrable equality of death, but nobody wanted that kind of equality. At the beginning of a pestilence and when it ends, there's always a propensity for rhetoric. They were mostly too long-winded, in his view, and he made no effort to read them verse for versehe just had a look here and there, while the biscuits were browning. But if I lose the match, I want to make a good end of it.. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. A lbert Camus was a French novelist, essayist, and playwright, best known for such novels as L'tranger (1942; The Stranger), La Peste (1947; The Plague), and La Chute (1956; The Fall) and for his work in leftist causes. At this stage of the narrative, with Dr. Bernard Rieux standing at his window, the narrator may, perhaps, be allowed to justify the doctors uncertainty and surprise since, with very slight differences, his reaction was the same as that of the majority of the townsfolk. All he gathered was that the work he was engaged on ran to a great many pages, and he was at almost excruciating pains to bring it to perfection. and theme. It's the event that proves them right. The newspapers. 126, Quote 11: "Many fledgling moralists in those days were going about our town proclaiming there was nothing to be done about it and we should bow to the inevitable. My my code of morals, perhaps. More books than SparkNotes. 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