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Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.
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Camus turns a familiar excuse inside out. People who promise a better tomorrow often ask for today to be spent on it, and he says the real gift to the future is to live and give fully now. It is the practical edge of The Rebel's case for limits and moderation, set against revolutions that sacrifice the living for a distant ideal, and today it circulates as a line about generosity and being present.
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Camus wrote the sentence in The Rebel (L'Homme révolté), his 1951 book-length essay on rebellion and revolution in Western societies. It sits in the final part, Thought at the Meridian, in the section titled Moderation and Excess, and in the original French reads: "La vraie générosité envers l'avenir consiste à tout donner au présent." Wikiquote's English edition gives it at page 313. It is a line from the book's argument, not a speech, letter or interview remark, and the wording is Camus's own rather than a later misattribution.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: Albert CamusThe Rebel (1951), Part 5, Thought at the Meridian, section Moderation and Excess, p. 313Reference checked
- Wikipedia: The Rebel (book)LeadReference checked
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