How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Stuart Gilbert's translation.
Quote #10
The truth is I wasn’t brought into the world to write newspaper articles. But it’s quite likely I was brought into the world to live with a woman. That’s reasonable enough, isn’t it?
Rieux replied cautiously that there might be something in what he said. (2.2.35-36)
What were those three actions identified in the first chapter? Oh, right: work, love, and death.
Quote #11
He wished nothing better than that Rambert should be allowed to return to his wife and that all who loved one another and were parted should come together again. Only the law was the law, plague had broken out, and he could only do what had to be done. (2.2.50)
While Rieux and Rambert initially make different decisions, their reasoning is the same. Rieux says he needs to do his job – that is, be a doctor. Rambert, likewise, needs to "do what ha[s] to be done," it’s just that in his case, what has to be done is be with his "wife."
Quote #12
"Yes, the hour has come for serious thought. You fondly imagined it was enough to visit God on Sundays , and thus you could make free of your weekdays. You believed some brief formalities, some bendings of the knee, would recompense him well enough for your criminal indifference. But God is not mocked. These brief encounters could not sate the fierce hunger of His love. He wished to see you longer and more often; that is His manner of loving and, indeed, it is the only manner of loving. (2.3. 15)
Apparently love can be destructive as well – at least in religious rhetoric.