ThoughtCo, Sep. 8, 2021, thoughtco.com/the-plague-quotes-738216. Copyright 2016. There is almost an implicit understanding amongst the people that this is the way things will be discussed because it is the only way they can handle what is happening. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves. We feel "A jealousy so strong that judgement cannot cure" - Iago. As the world communicates more and Among them I can at least try to discover how one attains to the third category; in other words, to peace. Chapter 29, - ", "So long as the epidemic lasted, there was never any lack of men for these duties. The rich can fall ill and die a grotesque, senseless death just as easily as the poor can. "But worst of all," Tarrou writes, "is that they're forgotten, and they know it. 3 Oh, Doctor, he would exclaim, how Id like to learn to express myself! He brought the subject up each time he met Rieux. This is a slow, laborious, dull, and uninspiring fight. In short, this epidemic has done him proud. And in this feeling that his heart had slowly closed in on itself, the doctor found a solace, his only solace, for the almost unendurable burden of his days To fight abstraction you must have something of it in your own make-up. One day, in. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. But its no reason for giving up the struggle.. '", "There comes a time in history when the man who dares to say that two and two do make four is punished with death. 199, Quote 18: "Until now I always felt a stranger in this town, and that I'd no concern with you people. I dont want to die, and I shall put up a fight. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. The newspapers. But it's no reason for giving up the struggle. Throughout the book, Dr. Rieux mulls over why he helps people. Part 5, pg. 126, Quote 11: "Many fledgling moralists in those days were going about our town proclaiming there was nothing to be done about it and we should bow to the inevitable. more relevant and important. ", "Rats died in the street; men in their homes. In the novel, Camus shows how the plague shakes us out of the stupor that we all live in. He hasn't come in contact with death; that's why he can speak with such assurance of the truthwith a capital T. But every country priest who visits his parishioners and has heard a man gasping for breath on his deathbed thinks as I do. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, The evil in the world comes almost always from ignorance, and goodwill can cause as much damage as ill-will if it is not enlightened. Chapter 15, - 241, Quote 22: " we can't stir a finger in this world without the risk of bringing death to somebody. There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise. One grows out of pity when its useless. Export to Citation Manager (RIS) Back to item. If plague percolates, then it behaves like a liquid, like a wave washing over a city or like a gust of air blowing through. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, And he knew, also, what the old man was thinking as his tears flowed, and he, Rieux, thought it too: that a loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour when one is weary of prisons, of one's work, and of devotion to duty, and all one craves for is a loved face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart. The Plague Quotes. Tools to track, assess, and motivate classroom reading. More books than SparkNotes. Death doesn't await us at the end of the tracks, it's right here, now. He is one of the first people in Oran to urge that stringent sanitation measures be taken to fight the rising epidemic. This uid metaphor seems to have allowed Camus to stumble into an accurate model of plague dynamics. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Albert Camus, "Notebooks, 193." Philosophy Quotes on Instagram: ""Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear." Albert Camus, "Notebooks, 1935-1951" Albert Camus (1913-1960) was an Algerian-born French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. and to carry with us the authors best ideas. And until my dyingday,I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture. ", "The truth is that nothing is less sensational than pestilence, and by reason of their very duration great misfortunes are monotonous. Chapter 16, - interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the readers life. ", "By the force of things, this last remnant of decorum went by the board, and men and women were flung into the death-pits indiscriminately. Ive a very different idea of love. On the day when the death-roll touched thirty, Dr. Rieux read an official telegram that the Prefect had just handed him, remarking: So theyve got alarmed at last. The telegram ran: Proclaim a state of plague stop close the town. This simple statement that there are more admirable than despicable things about men is a positive and hopeful closing message. Born place: in Mondovi, Algeria 179, Quote 15: " the habit of despair is worse than despair itself." ""I told him I was. Chapter 6, - To Harry's intense embarrassment, he suddenly realized that Dumbledore's bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knee. "The Plague Study Guide." But its not easy, he told Rieux. Just as we avoid others today through "social distancing," Camus' townspeople contort themselves awkwardly to stay away from each other on the street and in cafes and shops, look at each other with deep mistrust, shy away from former friends and associates, and agonize over whether or not it is worth the potentiality of getting sick to indulge in the deep desire for human contact. You cant understand. This business is everybody's business." Doctor Castel begins making serum using the local bacillus microbe. ", "Thus, too, they came to know the incorrigible sorrow of all prisoners and exiles, which is to live in company with a memory that serves no purpose. The just man need have no fear, but the evildoer has good cause to tremble. But it doesnt always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away., If there is one thing one can always yearn for and sometimes attain, it is human love., No longer were there individual destinies; only a collective destiny, made of plague and emotions shared by all., From now on it was different; they seemed at the mercy of the skys capricesin other words, suffered and hoped irrationally., The truth is that nothing is less sensational than pestilence, and by reason of their very duration great misfortunes are monotonous., Then came the second phase of conflict, tears and pleadingsabstraction, in a word. The good man, the man who infects hardly anyone, is the man who has the fewest lapses of attention. He wrote large parts of the novel while working for the French Resistance paper Combat during World War II. This book was released on 2004-01-03 with total page 312 pages. The unusual events described in this chronicle occurred in 194- at Oran . Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. ", "So all a man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, They knew now that if there is one thing one can always yearn for, and sometimes attain, it is human love. He not infrequently groups all people together as being hypocritical, hostile, and deserving of whatever he is able to do to them. ", "What we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise. And then on January 4, 1960, three years after accepting the Nobel Prize, he was killed in a car accident.In a book . Chapter 28, - Access full book title Recognize Greatest Quotes by Barbara Nicholson. Many of these writers presented their thoughts on the subject in the form of a satire. Born date November 7, 1913 Part 2, pg. The truth is that nothing is less sensational than pestilence, and by reason of their very duration great misfortunes are monotonous. Accessed April 18, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Plague/. And also I know it may sound absurd, but Id feel less separated from my little boy. Rieux stared at him. ", "Thus, for example, a feeling normally as individual as the ache of separation from those one loves suddenly became a feeling in which all shared alike andtogether with fearthe greatest affliction of the long period of exile that lay ahead. "I am very touched, Harry. Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd . Photo by Heike Huslage-Koch/Lesekreis. Chapter 26, - The plague permeates all parts of the town, striking down doctors and magistrates and businessmen as easily as it strikes down laborers and derelicts. But your victories will never be lasting; that's all.' At the end of the novel when Rieux intimates that the plague is never truly gone and is just waiting to return, there is a sense of the cyclical, of people forgetting and becoming dulled to danger, only to have it surprise them when they least expect it. There should be some memory of the collectivism and community fostered, some recognition that what is actually importantfamily, health, loveshould take precedence over making money and pursuing pleasure. The flagellants believed that selfpunishment for their sins might help save them from death as a result of the Plague. ", "If there is one thing one can always yearn for and sometimes attain, it is human love. Every day a dapper little old man stepped out on the balcony on the other side of the street Leaning over the balcony he would call: Pussy! ", "From now on it can be said that plague was the concern of all of us. First published in 1948 . Born in Algeria, Camus began collecting material for The Plague in Oran in 1941. Dr. Bernard Rieux, Part 1, Chapter 3 The man who spits on cats is a character who illustrates the absurd because his action has no greater meaning, yet he takes delight in it. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format. Struggling with distance learning? Chapter 24, - ", "Once plague had shut the gates of the town, they had settled down to a life of separation, debarred from the living warmth that gives forgetfulness of all. It is in the thick of a calamity that one gets hardened to the truth-in other words, to silence." resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but Part 4, pg. All the same, when you see the misery it brings, you'd need to be a madman, or a coward, or stone blind, to give in tamely to the plague. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business.'" Rieux is not a man given to flights of fancy, but several times in the novel he imagines he hears the sound of the plague whispering through the streets of obsolescence and death. 2 They considered themselves free and no one will ever be free as long as there is plague, pestilence and famine. Earn weekly rewards. Thats what he meant to say., All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilence and there are victims, and its up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences. The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus that was first published in 1947. The silent city was no more than an assemblage of huge, inert cubes, between which only the mute effigies of great men, carapaced in bronze, with their blank stone or metal faces, conjured up a sorry semblance of what the man had been. I suspect your answer may help me to mine. His face still in shadow, Rieux said that hed already answered: that if he believed in an all-powerful God he would cease curing the sick and leave that to Him in this respect Rieux believed himself to be on the right road in fighting against creation as he found it. The inevitable surprise suggests a kind of collective denial in facing death. Needless to say, he knew the sympathy was genuine enough. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, There are more things to admire in men then to despise. But perhaps we should love what we cannot understand." Rieux straightened up slowly "No, Father. 37, Quote 4: "They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences." Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, Nothing in the world is worth turning one's back on what one loves. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away. Part 3, pg. Chapter 30. At the beginning of a pestilence and when it ends, there's always a propensity for rhetoric. Web. All he gathered was that the work he was engaged on ran to a great many pages, and he was at almost excruciating pains to bring it to perfection. They were mostly too long-winded, in his view, and he made no effort to read them verse for versehe just had a look here and there, while the biscuits were browning. On plague, pandemic, and constant vigilance: "'All the resthealth, integrity, purity (if you like)is a product of a vigilance that must never falter. J.K. Rowling, quote from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants. 1. ", "Once the faintest stirring of hope became possible, the dominion of the plague was ended. The inability to communicate through language translates into the inability to connect with humanity. Each quote represents a book that is The people have "heights" when they convince themselves that everything is okay, the plague will soon be over, and pleasure is still worth pursuing, and "depths" when they suffer from the weight of their pain and loss and confusion. The skythe weatherweaves in and out of the story as a reminder of the indifference of the universe to human suffering. Part 1, pg. Their friends have forgotten them because they have other things to think about, naturally enough. The murderer's soul is blind, and there is no true goodness or fine love without the greatest possible degree of clear-sightedness. Advertisement - Guide continues below. What the 1947 novel has to say about our coronavirus challenge. The volunteers realize that the plague is everyone's concern, so they do their duty by helping to fight it. And with his arms locked around her he let his tears flow freely, unknowing if they rose from present joy or from sorrow too long repressed; aware only that they would prevent his making sure if the face buried in the hollow of his shoulder was the face of which he had dreamed so often or, instead, a strangers face. 291, Quote 27: "Once plague had shut the gates of the town, they had settled down to a life of separation, debarred from the living warmth that gives forgetfulness of all." But people dont love forever. For anyone living through the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, this quote will ring uncomfortably true. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Memorable Quotes From 'The Plague' by Camus. His work and quotes live on, both celebrated and debated for their wisdom . I've been thinking it over for years. Part 2, pg. ", "No longer werethereindividual destinies; only a collective destiny, made of plague and emotions shared by all. Pussy! in a voice at once haughty and endearing He then proceeded to tear some paper into scraps and let them fall into the street; interested by the fluttering shower of white butterflies, the cats came forward, lifting tentative paws toward the last scraps of paper. However, those with money do find it easier to keep to a higher standard of living and inoculate themselves slightly more than the poor. Akin to this first trait is the second, an ever -present, poorly controlled rage--- easily triggered by any feelings of being tricked, slighted, or labeled inferior by others. Part 5, pg. It helps men to rise above themselves. It's a matter of common decency. The idea that suffering and death are what all humans have in common is an important refrain in the book. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, Thus each of us had to be content to live only for the day, alone under the vast indifference of the sky. Albert Camus, quote from The Plague, Albert Camus ", "Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. I've a very different idea of love. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. 'T here have been as many plagues as wars in history," Albert Camus writes in The Plague (now an Amazon . December 2, 2016. The sun spread reddish-gold light through the shining bushes, among which a few goats wandered, bleating. . 'Yes, I know that. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. "The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Explore books by genre, topic, reading level, or series to find your next read. . The the sun lifted clear, like an immense coin. beam with delight. This personification of the disease does not change Rieux's response to how he combats it, and he of course never stops approaching it as the microbe it is, but it does allow him to conceive of it in terms of languageit is an insidious and implacable enemy, it moves, it speaks, it preys and stalks, and it kills. But they are more or less ignorant and this is what one calls vice or virtue, the most appalling vice being the ignorance that thinks it knows everything and which consequently authorizes itself to kill. Plagues and pestilences are just simply only one manifestation of this existential struggle. But there are always flies and itches. To verify accuracy, check the appropriate style guide. ", "He knew that the tale he had to tell could not be one of final victory. ""I don't know. But at this same moment, now that once more all ways of escape were sealed against him, he felt his longing for her blaze up again. 37, Quote 5: "Thus, for example, a feeling normally as individual as the ache of separation from those one loves suddenly became a feeling in which all shared alike and-together with fear-the greatest affliction of the long period of exile that lay ahead." . The critical moment came just before the outbreak touched the high-water mark, and the doctor hadgoodreason for feeling anxious. Hostile to the past, impatient of the present, and cheated of the future, we were much like those whom men's justice, or hatred, forces to live behind prison bars." Lombardi, Esther. In the first case, habits have not yet been lost; in the second, they're returning. As the narrator explains how people reacted to the suffering of the plague, he notes how they began to feel isolated from one another, despite the fact that they were enduring a similar problem. 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