Albert Camus Quotes

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

Power is an instrument of fatal consequence. It is confined no more readily than quicksilver, and escapes good intentions as easily as air flows through mesh.

Power intoxicates men. It is never voluntarily surrendered. It must be taken from them.

Power tends to get confused with repression.

Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.

One precedent in favor of power is stronger than an hundred against it

Ambition fortifies the will of man to become ruler over other men: it operates with deception, cajolery, and violence, it is the action of impurity upon impurity.

Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.

any compulsion tries to justify itself.

The drive for control, or the perception thereof, is truly the strongest force in human nature.

We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.

Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.

Repression is fantastic.

The most important thing about power is to make sure you don't have to use it.

I call the discourse of power any discourse that engenders blame, hence guilt, in its recipient.

Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.

Power is domination, control, and therefore a very selective form of truth which is a lie.

The concept of power we admire is power over someone else.

Well, I have an interest in power. I have an interest in people who find themselves in the position to exercise absolute power.

You carry forever the fingerprint that comes from being under someone's thumb.

The world is full of little dictators trying to run your life.

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

Well, when you look at a lot of science fiction novels they're asking questions about power. There are questions about what it means to have power and what are the long-term consequences of power.

He who can destroy a thing, can control a thing.

I just want to conquer people and their souls.