Before the terrifying prospects now available to humanity, we see even more clearly that peace is the only goal worth struggling for. This is no longer a prayer but a demand to be made by all peoples to their governments — a demand to choose definitively between hell and reason.

– Albert Camus (1913-1960)

From the rock star of Existentialism (although he would have been loathe to put himself anywhere near Sartre’s camp) – his words in response to the WWII bombing of Hiroshima. I thought of his essay – “The World is What it is,” which you can read here – in light of the attacks in Paris on Friday. In times of great crisis, one of my areas of solace is Camus. Blog, pray for Paris, praise life, add a filter to your profile photo, do whatever you need to do to console yourself because these actions do have merit. And then tomorrow – no more of this hatred, this bigotry, this senselessness – we must work toward peace.

[Thank you for joining us in the fourth third edition of the Quotable Quickie: Existentialism series for NaBloPoMo 2015. Vive la France!]