21 The Stranger Quotes For All Teen Philosophers

'The Stranger' is written by the Nobel Prize-winning author and philosopher Albert Camus.

The meaning of the book lies in its name itself. The protagonist does everything out of absurdism and thus, he is a 'stranger' to society.

The book is about a boy, Meursault, the protagonist of the story, a French Algerian who lives at a place where he hardly has anyone he can feel familiar with. It seemed that he found no meaning in life and the world. Whatever he was doing felt similar to absurdism. As in, nothing he did had any meaning to it. For example, he blamed suffering in the sun being the reason why he murdered the man on the beach. There are many more instances. Read up on the quotes below to learn about them.

If you like our 'The Stranger' quotes go check out 'Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance' quotes and Transcendentalism quotes.
 

Here are some of the best quotes from the book that get you lost in thought.

1. "Mother used to say that however miserable one is, there’s always something to be thankful for. And each morning, when the sky brightened and light began to flood my cell, I agreed with her."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

2. "What difference could they make to me, the deaths of others, or a mother’s love … or the way a man decides to live, the fate he thinks he chooses, since one and the same fate was bound to 'choose' not only me but thousands of millions of privileged people."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

3. "Imagination has never been one of my strong points. Still, I tried to picture a moment when the beating of my heart no longer echoed in my head. But in vain."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

4. "His voice was quite steady when he said: 'Have you no hope at all? Do you really think that when you die you die outright, and nothing remains?' I said: 'Yes'."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

5. "I’d got through another Sunday, that Mother now was buried, and tomorrow I’d be going back to work as usual. Really, nothing in my life had changed."

- Part 1, Chapter 2.

6. "Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: 'Your mother passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Deep sympathy.' Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday."

- Part 1, Chapter 1.

7. "And I, too, felt ready to start life all over again. It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

8. "So I learned that even after a single day’s experience of the outside world a man could easily live a hundred years in prison. He’d have laid up enough memories never to be bored."

- Part 2, Chapter 2.

9. "A moment later she asked me if I loved her. I said that sort of question had no meaning, really; but I supposed I didn’t. She looked sad for a bit."

- Part 1, Chapter 4.

10. "For the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I’d been happy, and that I was happy still."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

11. "For the first time, perhaps, I seriously considered the possibility of marrying her.."

- Part 1, Chapter 6.

These are just a few of the most famous quotes from the book that can make you feel like a philosopher.

12. "Neither of the two men, at these times, showed the least hostility toward me, and everything went so smoothly, so amiably, that I had an absurd impression of being 'one of the family'."

- Part 2, Chapter 1.

13. "But, what with his long-windedness, the endless days and hours they had been discussing my 'soul,' and the rest of it, I found that my mind had gone blurred; everything was dissolving into a grayish, watery haze."

- Part 2, Chapter 4.

14. "He then asked if a 'change of life', as he called it, didn’t appeal to me, and I answered that one never changed his way of life; one life was as good as another, and my present one suited me quite well."

- Part 1, Chapter 5.

15. "I’d have liked to have a chance of explaining to him, in a quite friendly, almost affectionate way, that I have never been able really to regret anything in all my life. I’ve always been far too much absorbed in the present moment, or the immediate future, to think back."

- Part 2, Chapter 4.

16. "To my surprise each of them shook hands with me, as though this night together, in which we hadn’t exchanged a word, had created a kind of intimacy between us."

- Part 1, Chapter 1.

17. "I’m on your side, though you don’t realize it - because your heart is hardened."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

18. "I was returning to a cell, and what awaited me was a night haunted by forebodings of the coming day. And so I learned that familiar paths traced in the dusk of summer evenings may lead as well to prisons as to innocent, untroubled sleep."

- Part 2, Chapter 3.

19. "And then a rush of memories went through my mind - memories of a life which was mine no longer and had once provided me with the surest, humblest pleasures: warm smells of summer, my favorite streets, the sky at evening, Marie’s dresses and her laugh."

- Part 2, Chapter 4.

20. "On a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or threescore and ten - since, in either case, other men and women will continue living, the world will go on as before."

- Part 2, Chapter 5.

21. "I’ve often thought that had I been compelled to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but gaze up at the patch of sky just overhead, I’d have got used to it by degrees."

- Part 2, Chapter 2.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 'The Stranger' quotes then why not take a look at Wittgenstein quotes, or Will Durant quotes.