Albert Camus Quotes About Virtue

• Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principle of evil.

  Albert Camus

  Reality, Evil, Principles

• A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

  Albert Camus

  Life, Honesty, Integrity

• I know myself too well to believe in pure virtue.

  Albert Camus

  Believe, Virtue, Wells

  Albert Camus (1965). “Notebooks, 1942-1951”

• Truth is not a virtue, but a passion. It is never charitable.

  Albert Camus

  Passion, Truth Is, Virtue

  Albert Camus (2008). “Notebooks, 1951-1959”, Ivan R Dee

• I have always thought it would be easier to redeem a man steeped in vice and crime than a greedy, narrow-minded, pitiless merchant.

  Albert Camus

  Men, Vices, Would Be

  Albert Camus (2012). “Lyrical and Critical Essays”, p.265, Vintage

• On the whole, men are more good than bad; that, however, isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance that fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. The soul of the murderer is blind; and there can be no true goodness nor true love without the utmost clear-sightedness.

  Albert Camus

  Real, Ignorance, Men

  Albert Camus (1948). “The Plague”, Vintage

• The words that reverberate for us at the confines of this long adventure of rebellion are not formulas for optimism, for which we have no possible use in the extremities of our unhappiness, but words of courage and intelligence which, on the shores of the eternal seas, even have the qualities of virtue.

  Albert Camus

  Adventure, Sea, Long

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt”, p.303, Vintage

• His own faith, however, was not lacking in virtues since it consisted in acknowledging obscurely that he would be granted much without ever deserving anything.

  Albert Camus

  Would Be, Virtue, Granted

  Albert Camus (1960). “Collected fiction”

• Absolute virtue is impossible and the republic of forgiveness leads, with implacable logic, to the republic of the guillotine.

  Albert Camus

  Forgiveness, Republic, Impossible

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt”, p.124, Vintage

• Obstinacy alone is not a virtue.

  Albert Camus

  Virtue, Obstinacy

  Albert Camus (2012). “Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays”, p.99, Vintage

• Gilbert Jonas, painter, believed in his star.... His own faith was not, however, without its virtues because it consisted in admitting, in some obscure way, that he would obtain many things without deserving them.

  Albert Camus

  Faith, Stars, Luck

• I understood, by dint of digging into my memories, that modesty helped me to shine, humility helped me to triumph and virtue to oppress.

  Albert Camus

  Memories, Humility, Shining

• In the end, we would like not to be guilty while at the same time being dispensed of the effort of purifying ourselves. Not enough cynicism and not enough virtue.

  Albert Camus

  Effort, Guilty, Virtue

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