Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.

L'homme est la seule créature qui refuse d'être ce qu'il est.

Albert Camus

The Rebel

Buy The Rebel at Amazon Buy The Rebel at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Human nature Being oneself Authenticity The human condition

Author

Albert Camus

Source

The Rebel

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Occupation

Nobel laureate Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Camus, Albert. L'Homme Revolte [The Rebel]. Gallimard, 1951.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Albert Camus about human nature: “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
Download
A quote by Albert Camus about human nature: “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
Download
A quote by Albert Camus about human nature: “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Albert Camus

Knowing that certain nights whose sweetness lingers will keep returning to the earth and sea after we are gone, yes, this helps us die.

Albert Camus

The Sea Close By

More information about this quote
Topic
Acceptance of death Death The human condition

Author

Albert Camus
Source
The Sea Close By
Medium
Essay
Language
French
Time
1953 1950s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Camus, Albert. "The Sea Close By." Lyrical and Critical Essays. Vintage Books, 1970. Originally published in L'Eté [Summer]. Gallimard, 1954.

Another quote from the 1950s

The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered, is being insincere.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

More information about this quote
Topic
Living inauthentically

Author

Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Source
Gift from the Sea
Language
English
Time
1955 1950s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. Gift from the Sea. Pantheon Books, 1955, ch. 2.

Another quote about The human condition

Imagine that human existence is defined by an Ache: the Ache of our not being, each of us, the center of the universe; of our desires forever outnumbering our means of satisfying them.

Jonathan Franzen

Read this essay at harpers.org
More information about this quote
Topic
The human condition Desire

Author

Jonathan Franzen
Source
Harper's Magazine
Medium
Essay
Language
English
Time
1996 1990s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Franzen, Jonathan. "Perchance to Dream: In the Age of Images, a Reason to Write Novels." Harper's Magazine, Apr. 1996.

Current Citation

Franzen, Jonathan. "Why Bother?" How to Be Alone. Picador, 2002.

Another quote originally in French

Good sense is of all things in the world the most equally distributed, for everybody thinks he is so well supplied with it, that even those most difficult to please in all other matters never desire more of it than they already possess.

René Descartes

Discourse on Method

Buy Discourse on Method at Amazon Buy Discourse on Method at Amazon
Read Discourse on Method at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Common sense

Author

René Descartes
Source
Discourse on Method
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
French
Time
1637 1630s 17th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Descartes, René [published anonymously]. Discours de la Méthode: Pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences [Discourse on Method: To Conduct Reason Well, and Seek Truth in the Sciences]. Leiden, 1637, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Descartes, René. Discourse on the Method, translated by Ian Maclean. Oxford University Press, 2008, pt. 1.