Camus does not say that being right is vulgar. He says the need to be right is. There is an important difference.

Being right is sometimes useful and occasionally even pleasant. But needing to be right is something else entirely. It is a compulsion that turns every conversation into a contest, every disagreement into a threat. The person who needs to be right cannot listen, because listening might change their mind, and changing their mind feels like losing.

Watch what happens the next time you argue with someone you care about. At some point, the argument stops being about whatever started it and becomes about winning. You find yourself defending positions you do not entirely believe, sharpening your words not to clarify but to score points. The original question has evaporated. What remains is the desperate need to not be wrong.

Authentic people can say “I don’t know” or “I was wrong” without feeling diminished. They treat their opinions as tools, not possessions. When a tool stops working, you put it down and pick up another. Only someone confused about the difference between their ideas and their identity would keep gripping a broken one.

Notice today where the need creeps in. Then try letting it go.