The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.
Interpretation
Tyrants often justify their oppressive actions by claiming they are acting for the benefit of the people.
This quote by Albert Camus suggests that throughout history, those in power have manipulated the concept of public welfare to legitimize their tyranny. By cloaking their oppressive actions in the rhetoric of protecting the common good, tyrants maintain control while often betraying the very people they claim to serve.
In practice
During a speech discussing government overreach, one could reference this quote to highlight the dangers of tyranny.
The Poor Man whom everyone speaks of, the Poor Man whom everyone pities, one of the repulsive Poor from whom charitable souls keep their distance, he has still said nothing. Or, rather, he has spoken through the voice of Victor Hugo, Zola, Richepin. At least, they said so. And these shameful impostures fed their authors. Cruel irony, the Poor Man tormented with hunger feeds those who plead his case.
The certainty of a God giving meaning to life far surpasses in attractiveness the ability to behave badly with impunity. The choice would not be hard to make. But there is no choice and that is where the bitterness comes in. The absurd does not liberate; it binds.
Between history and the eternal I have chosen history because I like certainties. Of it, at least, I am certain, and how can I deny this force crushing me.
Don't wait for the last judgment - it takes place every day.
A single sentence will suffice for modern man. He fornicated and read the papers. After that vigorous definition, the subject will be, if I may say so, exhausted.
At times I feel myself overtaken by an immense tenderness for these people around me who live in the same century.
Christ's resurrection doesn't mean escaping from the world; it means mission to the world based on Jesus's lordship over the world.
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes _x000D_ They call me on and on across the universe _x000D_ Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box _x000D_ They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe
And silence. She liked the silence most of all. The silence in which the body, senses, the instincts, are more alert, more powerful, more sensitized, live a more richly perfumed and intoxication life, instead of transmuting into thoughts, words, into exquisite abstractions, mathematics of emotion in place of violent impact, the volcanic eruptions of fever, lust and delight.
I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion.
This revelation of the secrets of nature, long mercifully withheld from man, should arouse the most solemn reflections in the mind and conscience of every human being capable of comprehension. We must indeed pray that these awful agencies will be made to conduce to peace among the nations, and that instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe, may become a perennial fountain of world prosperity.
True character arises from a deeper well than religion. It is the internalization of moral principles of a society, augmented by those tenets personally chosen by the individual, strong enough to endure through trials of solitude and adversity. The principles are fitted together into what we call integrity, literally the integrated self, wherein personal decisions feel good and true. Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others.
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