Albert Camus Quotes

Reality isn't the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are.

I do try to write in ways that reflect reality, and I think that reality is rarely simple.

I am determined to live without illusions. I want to look at reality straight. Without hiding.

I would definitely welcome lighter material, but I like to be where the truth lies.

I live with truth.

I'm ruthless and truthful.

Maybe the hardest thing in writing is simply to tell the truth about things as we see them.

I cut through the nonsense with the blinding light of truth.

If you're analytical, you have to be blunt. That's by definition. You can't analyze something and not be blunt about it. What would you rather hear if not the truth?

A litterateur is not a confectioner, not a dealer in cosmetics, not an entertainer. . . . He is just like an ordinary reporter. What would you say if a newspaper reporter, because of his fastidiousness or from a wish to give pleasure to his readers, were to describe only honest mayors, high-minded ladies, and virtuous railroad contractors.

It is the opposite of ignorance—it is intellectual honesty: to be willing to accept reality and to call things what they are even when it is hard.

I'd like to be invisible. To be anonymous and see things for what they really are. The truth may be painful but it's probably useful!

Keep it real by being straight forward. Don't pull no punches on people. It's better to tell somebody than just lollygag around, letting them think they're living their life the right way. Because some people don't know what the hell they're doing, they don't know if they're living the right way or making the right decisions. Some people don't know that.

We ought to look the world frankly in the face.

In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think it should have happened. Tell the truth and write the story. Then you won't get mixed up. It was the best advice Francie every got.

Things are as bad and as good as they seem. There's no need to add anything extra.

Whatever the situation, just take it for what it is. You don't have to make it worse or better than it is. It just is what it is. Always deal with the honesty, the truth of what something is, and then you've got all kinds of choices.

Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.

My function as a writer is not story-telling but truth-telling: to make things plain.

Let the ugly light of the world in, we are no longer blind.

Liberty is the parent of truth, but truth and decency are sometimes at variance. All men and all propositions are to be treated here as they deserve, and there are many who have no claim either to respect or decency.

Friends should always tell you the truth. But please don’t.

Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.

I feel you see every crack and bruise with black and white [pictiures] and color distracts usually from the honesty.

Truth possesses within herself a penetrating force, unknown alike to error and falsehood. I say 'truth' and you understand my meaning. For the beautiful words truth and justice need not to be defined in order to be understood in their true sense.