The Plague Quotes

“The trouble is, there is nothing less spectacular than a pestilence and, if only because they last so long, great misfortunes are monotonous. In the memory of those who have lived through them, the dreadful days of the plague do not seem like vast flames, cruel and magnificent, but rather like an endless trampling that flattened everything in its path.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“There's so much wickedness in the world," she said. "So what can you expect?”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“The reserves of emotion pent up during those many months when for everybody the flame of life burned low were being recklessly squandered to celebrate this, the red-letter day of their survival. Tomorrow real life would begin again, with its restrictions. But for the moment people in very different walks of life were rubbing shoulders, fraternizing. The leveling-out that death’s imminence had failed in practice to accomplish was realized at last, for a few gay hours, in the rapture of escape.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Sem memória e sem esperança, instalavam-se no presente. Na verdade, tudo se tornara presente para eles. A peste, é preciso que se diga, tirara a todos o poder do amor e até mesmo da amizade. Porque o amor exige um pouco de futuro e para nós só havia instantes.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Sabíamos, então, que a nossa separaçāo estava destinada a durar e que devíamos tentar entender-nos com o tempo. A partir de então, reintegrávamo-nos, afinal, à nossa condição de prisioneiros, estávamos reduzidos ao nosso passado, e ainda que alguém fosse tentado a viver no futuro, logo renunciava, ao experimentar as feridas que a imaginação finalmente inflige aos que nela confiam.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“But what did that prove? Only that still more stringent measures should be applied.
"How? You can't make more stringent ones than those we have now."
"No. But every person in town must apply them to himself."
Cottard stared at him in a puzzled manner, and Tarrou went on to say that there were far too many slackers, that this plague was everybody's business, and everyone should do his duty.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“درواقع چه کسی می‌تواند ادعا کند که ابدی بودن یک شادی، می‌تواند یک لحظه رنج بشری را جبران کند؟”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“C'est bien fatigant d'être un pestiféré. Mais c'est encore plus fatigant de ne pas vouloir l'être. C'est pour cela que tout le monde se montre fatigué, puisque tout le monde, aujourd'hui, se trouve un peu pestiféré.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“There comes a time in history when the man who dares to say that two and two do make four is punished with death.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Dr Rieux decided to write the account that ends here, so as not to be one of those who keep silent, to bear witness on behalf of the victims, to leave at least a memory of the violence and injustice that was done to them, and to say simply what it is that one learns in the midst of such tribulations, namely that there is more in men to admire than to despise.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Tarrou had lost the game, as he said. But what had he, Rieux, won? All he had gained was to have known the plague and to remember it, to have known friendship and to remember it, to have known affection and to have one day to remember it. All that a man could win in the game of plague and life was knowledge and memory.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“But there always comes a time in history when the person who dares to say that two and two make four is punished by death.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“But this rotten bastard of a disease! Even those who don’t have it, carry it in their hearts.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Richard felt that they should not paint too black a picture, and that in any case there was no proof of contagion since the relatives of his patients were still unaffected. ‘But others have died,’ Rieux pointed out. ‘And, of course, contagion is never absolute, because if it were, we should have endless exponential growth and devastating loss of population. It’s not a matter of painting a black picture; it’s a matter of taking precautions.’ However, Richard thought he could sum the situation up by saying that if they were to halt the disease, assuming it did not stop of its own accord, they had to apply the serious preventive health measures provided for in law; that, to do so, they would have to acknowledge officially that there was an outbreak of plague; that there was no absolute certainty on that score; and consequently that they should consider the matter.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“A pestilence does not have human dimensions, so people tell themselves that it is unreal, that it is a bad dream which will end. But it does not always end and, from one bad dream to the next, it is people who end, humanists first of all because they have not prepared themselves.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Începând din acest moment, putem spune că ciuma a devenit problema noastră, a tuturor. Până atunci, cu toată uimirea şi neliniştea pe care le-o aduseseră concetăţenilor noştri aceste întâmplări ieşite din comun, fiecare îşi văzuse mai departe de treburile lui, cum putea, la locul lui obişnuit. Şi, fără îndoială, asta ar fi trebuit să continue. Dar porţile o dată închise, şi-au dat seama că erau toţi, şi povestitorul el însuşi, prinşi în acelaşi sac şi că trebuiau să se deprindă. Astfel, de pildă, un sentiment atât de individual cum e cel al despărţirii de o fiinţă iubită devine deodată, chiar din primele săptămâni, acela al unui întreg popor şi, laolaltă cu frica, suferinţa principală a acestei lungi perioade de exil.

Una din urmările cele mai izbitoare ale închiderii porţilor a fost, într-adevăr, despărţirea bruscă la care au fost supuse nişte fiinţe care nu erau pregătite să se despartă. Mame şi copii, soţi, amanţi, care crezuseră cu câteva zile mai înainte că se despart doar vremelnic, care se îmbrăţişaseră pe peronul gării noastre dându-şi câteva sfaturi, siguri că se vor revedea câteva zile sau câteva săptămâni mai târziu, absorbiţi de stupida încredere omenească, abia distraşi prin această plecare de la preocupările lor obişnuite, s-au văzut dintr-o dată despărţiţi fără speranţă, opriţi să se regăsească sau să comunice între ei. Căci închiderea avusese loc cu câteva ore înainte ca hotărârea prefecturii să fie publicată şi, bineînţeles, era imposibil să se ia în consideraţie cazurile particulare.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Cuvântul "ciumă" fusese rostit pentru întâia oară. În acest punct al povestirii, care-l lasă pe Bernard Rieux stând în spatele ferestrei
sale, i se va permite povestitorului să explice nesiguranţa şi surpriza medicului, deoarece, cu unele nuanţe, el a reacţionat la fel
ca şi cei mai mulţi dintre concetăţenii noştri. Epidemiile, într-adevăr, sunt ceva obişnuit, dar crezi cu greu în ele când îţi cad pe cap. Au fost pe lume tot atâtea ciume câte războaie. Şi totuşi, ciume şi războaie îi găsesc pe oameni întotdeauna la fel de nepregătiţi.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“The town was inhabited by people asleep on their feet, who did not really escape from their fate except on rare occasions when, in the night, their apparently healed wound would suddenly open. Then, waking with a start, they would feel around in kind of stupor, their lips smarting, at on stroke rediscovering their pain which was suddenly revived, and with it the devastated features of love.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Ο Ριέ ήξερε τι σκεφτόταν εκείνη τη στιγμή ο δυστυχής που έκλαιγε, γιατί το συλλογιόταν και ο ίδιος: αυτός ο κόσμος χωρίς αγάπη ήταν κόσμος νεκρός, κι έρχεται πάντα μια στιγμή που κουράζεται κανείς από τους αποκλεισμούς, τη δουλειά και το κουράγιο, και τότε αποζητάει ένα ανθρώπινο πρόσωπο και τη μαγευτική καρδιά της τρυφερότητας.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Τελειώνοντας το μονόλογό του, ο Ταρού κουνούσε το πόδι του, χτυπώντας ελαφρά το πεζούλι της ταράτσας με την άκρη του παπουτσιού του. Ύστερα από λίγα λεπτά σιωπής, ο γιατρός, ορθώνοντας το κορμί του, τον ρώτησε αν ήξερε ποιο δρόμο έπρεπε ν' ακολουθήσει ο άνθρωπος για να φτάσει στη γαλήνη.
- Ναι, ξέρω, το δρόμο της συμπόνιας.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Ο Ριέ διαβίβασε το κήρυγμα του Πανελού στον Ταρού κι εκείνος του είπε ότι γνώριζε έναν ιερέα που είχε χάσει την πίστη του κατά τη διάρκεια του πολέμου, όταν αντίκρισε το πρόσωπο ενός νέου με βγαλμένα μάτια.
- Ο Πανελού είχε δίκιο, είπε ο Ταρού. Όταν βγάζουν τα μάτια της αθωότητας, ένας χριστιανός θα πρέπει είτε να χάσει την πίστη του είτε να δεχτεί να του βγάλουν τα μάτια.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Το ψέμα είναι πάρα πολύ κουραστικό.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Οι γυναίκες των αρρώστων του άρπαζαν το χέρι και ούρλιαζαν:'Γιατρέ, σώστε τον!' Μα δεν ήταν εκεί για να σώζει ζωές, ήταν εκεί για να επιβάλλει την απομόνωση. Τι νόημα είχε το μίσος που διάβαζε τότε στα πρόσωπα; 'Δεν έχετε καρδιά', του είχαν πει μια μέρα. Κι όμως, είχε. Μόνο που του χρησίμευε για ν' αντέχει είκοσι ώρες τη μέρα να βλέπει ανθρώπους να πεθαίνουν ενώ ήταν πλασμένοι για να ζήσουν. Του χρησίμευε για να ξαναρχίζει κάθε μέρα.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“انسان قادر نیست مدت درازی رنج بکشد یا خوشبخت باشد. پس به هیچ کار پُرارزشی قادر نیست.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“دراثنای بدبختی است که انسان به واقعیت خو می‌گیرد.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague