The Fall

by Albert Camus

I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us. A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the papers.

I’ve heard of a man whose friend had been imprisoned and who slept on the floor of his room every night in order not to enjoy a comfort of which his friend had been deprived. Who, cher monsieur, will sleep on the floor for us?

Maybe we don’t love life enough? Have you noticed that death alone awakens our feelings? How we love the friends who have just left us? How we admire those of our teachers who have ceased to speak, their mouths filled with earth!

I discovered in myself sweet dreams of oppression.

one has to begin again with each new person. As a result of beginning over and over again, one gets in the habit. Soon the speech comes without thinking and the reflex follows; and one day you find yourself taking without really desiring.

How do I know I have no friends? It’s very easy: I discovered it the day I thought of killing myself to play a trick on them, to punish them, in a way. But punish whom? Some would be surprised, and no one would feel punished. I realized I had no friends.

“He killed himself because he couldn’t bear …” Ah, cher ami, how poor in invention men are! They always think one commits suicide for a reason.

who am I? A Louis XIV in pride, a billy goat for lust, a Pharaoh for wrath, a king of laziness.

But truth, cher ami, is a colossal bore.

we cannot assert the innocence of anyone, whereas we can state with certainty the guilt of all.

God is not needed to create guilt or to punish.

You were speaking of the Last Judgment. Allow me to laugh respectfully. I shall wait for it resolutely, for I have known what is worse, the judgment of men.

There are always reasons for murdering a man. On the contrary, it is impossible to justify his living.

why crime always finds lawyers, and innocence only rarely.