“There is but one true philosophical problem and that is suicide.”

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest — whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories — comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer.”

“People always think that a suicide is commited for one reason. But it is perfectly possible to commit a suicide for two reasons.”

“Now I can broach the notion of suicide. It has already been felt what solution might be given. At this point the problem is reversed. It was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning. Living an experience, a particular fate, is accepting it fully. Now, no one will live this fate, knowing it to be absurd, unless he does everything to keep before him that absurd brought to light by consciousness.”

“Le suicide est une solution à l'absurde.”

“Thoughts of suicide have got me through many a bad night.”

“The great novelists are philosophical novelists--that is, the contrary of thesis-writers.”