'The Stranger' by Albert Camus Quotes

The Stranger is a famous novel by Albert Camus, who wrote about existential themes. The story is a first-person narrative, through the eyes of Meursault, an Algerian. Here are a few quotes from The Stranger, separated by chapter.

Part 1, Chapter 1

"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday."

"It had been a long time since I'd been out in the country, and I could feel how much I'd enjoy going for a walk if it hadn't been for Maman."

Part 1, Chapter 2

"It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed."

Part 1, Chapter 3

"He asked if I thought she was cheating on him, and it seemed to me she was; if I thought she should be punished and what I would do in his place, and I said you can't ever be sure, but I understood his wanting to punish her."

"I got up. Raymond gave me a very firm handshake and said that men always understand each other. I left his room, closing the door behind me, and paused for a minute in the dark, on the landing. The house was quiet, and a breath of dark, dank air wafted p from deep in the stairwell. All I could hear was the blood pounding in my ears. I stood there, motionless."

Part 1, Chapter 4

"She was wearing a pair of my pajamas with the sleeves rolled up. When she laughed I wanted her again. A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so. She looked sad. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her."

Part 1, Chapter 5

"I would rather not have upset him, but I couldn't see any reason to change my life. Looking back on it, I wasn't unhappy. When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered."

Part 1, Chapter 6

"For the first time maybe, I really thought I was going to get married."

Part 2, Chapter 2

"At that time, I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowing overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it."

Part 2, Chapter 3

"For the first time in years, I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated me."

"I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated me."

"The spectators laughed. And my lawyer, rolling up one of his sleeves, said with finality, 'Here we have a perfect reflection of this entire trial: everything is true and nothing is true!'"

"They had before them the basest of crimes, a crime made worse than sordid by the fact that they were dealing with a monster, a man without morals."

Part 2, Chapter 4

"But all the long speeches, all the interminable days and hours that people had spent talking about my soul, had left me with the impression of a colorless swirling river that was making me dizzy."

"I was assailed by memories of a life that wasn't mine anymore, but one in which I'd found the simplest and most lasting joys."

"He wanted to talk to me about God again, but I went up to him and made one last attempt to explain to him that I only had a little time left and I didn't want to waste it on God."