“He knew now that it was his own will to happiness which must make the next move. But if he was to do so, he realized that he must come to terms with time, that to have time was at once the most magnificent and the most dangerous of experiments. Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.”

French philosopher, writer, and political activist

Albert Camus was a French philosopher, writer, and political activist. He is remembered for work that helped define twentieth-century French thought, and he received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44. His books include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel. His writing and public work are closely associated with questions of absurdity, moral choice, and political commitment.