Nobody Realizes That Some People Expend Tremendous Energy Merely To Be Normal

Albert Camus? Blanche Balain? Justin O’Brien? Herbert R. Lottman? Apocryphal?

Dear Quote Investigator: It is natural for a few aspects of each individual to be atypical or divergent. For many people extraordinary energy is needed simply to appear normal. The famous French philosopher Albert Camus apparently mentioned this in “The Myth of Sisyphus” or in one of his notebooks, but I am having trouble locating the original French statement. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Quote Investigator: Albert Camus maintained a series of notebooks to record his nascent ideas and aphorisms. He also transcribed statements he heard from others. After his death in 1960, material from the notebooks was edited and published in a series of books. Camus penned remarks into notebook number four between January 1942 and September 1945. He preserved the following comment from “B.B.”, actress and poet Blanche Balain. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[1]1964, Carnets: janvier 1942 – mars 1951 (Notebooks: January 1942 – March 1951) by Albert Camus, Cahier IV (Notebook 4), Quote Page 105, Éditions Gallimard, Paris, France. (Verified with … Continue reading

B. B. « Personne ne se rend compte que certaines personnes dépensent une force herculéenne pour être seulement normales. »

Translator Justin O’Brien rendered notebook number four into English. Here is his version of the comment:^[2]1965, Notebooks 1942-1951 by Albert Camus, Translated from the French by Justin O’Brien, Notebook 4, Date: Between June and August 1943, Quote Page 80, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. (Verified with … Continue reading

B.B.: “Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”

Albert Camus popularized this statement via his posthumous notebook, but he did not craft it. Blanche Balain should receive credit for this insight.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Within the pages of the notebook, the closest dated passage appeared a few paragraphs after the quotation from Balain. The date was September 1, 1943, and the accompanying statement from Camus presented a dual perspective on life. Here is the French^[3]1964, Carnets: janvier 1942 – mars 1951 (Notebooks: January 1942 – March 1951) by Albert Camus, Cahier IV (Notebook 4), Quote Page 106, Éditions Gallimard, Paris, France. (Verified with … Continue reading followed by Justin O’Brien’s English rendering:^[4] 1965, Notebooks 1942-1951 by Albert Camus, Translated from the French by Justin O’Brien, Notebook 4, Date: September 1, 1943, Quote Page 80, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. (Verified with scans)

Celui qui désespère des événements est un lâche, mais celui qui espère en la condition humaine est un fou.

He who despairs of events is a coward, but he who has hope for the human lot is a fool.

In 1978 and 1979 Herbert R. Lottman published a biography of Albert Camus in French^[5] 1978, Albert Camus by Herbert R. Lottman, Chapter 21: « Qui est cet étranger?… », Quote Page 297, Éditions du Seuil, Paris. (Verified with scans) and English.^[6] 1979, Albert Camus: A Biography by Herbert R. Lottman, Chapter 21: “Who Is This Stranger…?”, Quote Page 282, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York. (Verified with scans) He mentioned the quotation under examination, and he ascribed the words to Blanche Balain. His translation rendered “herculéenne” as “Herculean”:

À Saint-Étienne, il fut amusé par une remarque de Blanche et la consigna dans son carnet: « Personne ne se rend compte que certaines personnes dépensent une force herculéenne pour être seulement normales. »

During their Saint-Etienne meeting he was amused by a remark Blanche made, and recorded it in his journal: “Nobody realizes that some people make Herculean efforts just to be normal.”

In 1990 “Sunbeams: A Book of Quotations” compiled by Sy Safransky attributed the statement to Camus:^[7] 1990, Sunbeams: A Book of Quotations, Edited by Sy Safransky, Quote Page 20, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California. (Verified with scans)

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
—Albert Camus

In 1998 the “Times Recorder” of Zanesville, Ohio printed a shortened instance of the quotation and credited Camus:^[8]1998 March 19, Times Recorder, Section: Golden Years, Wisdon of the ages: Albert Camus (Third Age News Service), Quote Page 4, Column 5, Zanesville, Ohio. (Article title contained the typo … Continue reading

Never a man to follow a mainstream path or to waste his considerable mental powers, Camus once said: “Some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”

In 2006 the “Treasury of Wit & Wisdom” from Reader’s Digest credited Camus with the instance translated by Justin O’Brien.^[9]2006, Treasury of Wit & Wisdom: 4,000 of the Funniest, Cleverest, Most Insightful Things Ever Said, Compiled by Jeff Bredenberg, Topic: Mental Problems, Quote Page 184, The Reader’s Digest … Continue reading

In conclusion, Blanche Balain should receive credit for the remark recorded by Albert Camus in his notebook in 1943. The English translation varies. This article has presented renderings by Justin O’Brien and Herbert R. Lottman. The comment has often been incorrectly attributed to Camus.

(Great thanks to the anonymous French student who wondered about the initials B.B. when reading an excerpt from Camus’ notebook. That inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.)