Camus called him “the only Christ we deserve” — a man who dies for the truth, for refusing to lie. In the final scene, enraged by the chaplain’s certainty, he discovers that he was happy, and is happy still. See Meursault and the Chaplain.
Lines to Remember
2 quotationsMother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.
Aujourd'hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas.
Context & when to use it
For emotional detachment, the flatness of the absurd.
I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.
Je m'ouvrais pour la première fois à la tendre indifférence du monde.
Context & when to use it
For peace after giving up hope; acceptance without consolation.
Explore Next
related by shared connectionsMeursault and the Chaplain
On the eve of execution, Meursault explodes at the prison chaplain’s certainty — and finds peace in the “gentle indifference of the world”.
The Jātakas
547 stories of the Buddha’s previous lives — as a hare, a monkey king, a merchant, a prince — told to illustrate the virtues that lead to awakening. India’s great treasury of folk tales, carved on stūpas and painted in caves.
Arjuna
The Pāṇḍava archer who lays down his bow on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra rather than kill his kin — and receives the teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā.
Cordelia
Lear’s youngest daughter, who will not flatter, is disinherited, returns to rescue him, forgives him with “No cause, no cause” — and is hanged.
Abraham on Mount Moriah
Kierkegaard’s obsessive retelling of Genesis 22 — Abraham rising early to sacrifice Isaac — as the test case of faith beyond ethics.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Macbeth, told that his wife is dead, delivers the bleakest speech in Shakespeare — life is a walking shadow, a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.