Albert Camus Quotes

There exists in our society widespread fear of judging…[B]ehind the unwillingness to judge lurks the suspicion that no one is a free agent, and hence doubt that anyone is responsible or could be expected to answer for what he has done…Who has ever maintained that by judging a wrong I presuppose that I myself would be incapable of committing it?

The mind sins, not the body; if there is no intention, there is no blame.

Punishment as punishment is not admissible unless the offender has had the freewill to select his course.

The human is the only guilty animal.

We tend to think that people are more to blame for their acts than for their omissions.

I find it significant that, even though contemporary philosophy tends towards forms of determinism, in the wider culture people are deeply into naming, shaming and blaming each other. So we haven't lost that sense of conscience.

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

To cut short the question of the law of retaliation, we must note that even in its primitive form it can operate only between two individuals of whom one is absolutely innocent, and the other absolutely guilty. The victim, to be sure, is innocent. But can the society that is supposed to represent the victim lay claim to innocence?

I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime.

The blame is his who chooses: God is blameless.

It's hard to determine where lies culpability.

The passions of men are in themselves no sin. No more are the actions that proceed from those passions until they know that a law forbids them, which till laws be made, they cannot know.

Every person who is tempted to go astray does not deserve punishment

The offence is, in some measure, to be tolerated in those who did it through ignorance, so it is to be rigorously punished in those who do not fear to sin knowingly

if you do countenance those that are transgressors of the law you are in the same fact.

Capt. Gordon is as responsible for the death of those on the Erie. As if he had taken the life of each by his own hand. For once, when no doubt exists as to guilt, a terrible example should be made.

Finally, with regard to actions manifestly bad or criminal, to which a person is forced through fear of some great evil, and especially death; we must lay down as a general rule, that the unhappy circumstances, under which a person labors, may indeed diminish the crime of a man unequal to this trial, who commits a bad action in spite of himself, and against his own inward conviction, yet the action remains intrinsically vicious, and worthy of censure; wherefore it may be, and actually is imputed, unless the exception of necessity can be alleged in the person's favor.

Our instinct has outrun our theory in this matter; for while we still insist upon free will and sin, we make allowance for individuals who have gone wrong, on the very ground of provocation, of temptation, of bad education, of infirm character.

You are responsible for the choices you make in this life period, end of story.

He is not guilty who is not guilty of his own free will.

The sin both of men and of angels, was rendered possible by the fact that God gave us free will.

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain. Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree; Murder, stern murder in the dir'st degree, Throng to the bar, crying all, 'Guilty!, guilty!

One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license.

Is there anybody here who thinks that following the orders takes away the blame Is there anybody here who wouldn't mind a murder by another name?