I make myself strict rules in order to correct my nature. But it is my nature that I finally obey.
Interpretation
The struggle between self-imposed rules and inherent nature often defines human behavior.
This quote by Albert Camus highlights the conflict between the rules we set for ourselves to govern our actions and the intrinsic tendencies that ultimately guide our behavior. It suggests that while we may try to impose discipline and structure in our lives, it is our true nature that ultimately prevails, revealing the complexity of human existence and the limits of willpower.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about personal growth during a motivational seminar.
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.
No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.
Most actions derive not from your own initiative but from your family circumstances, your education, your calling, and so on. You must therefore give up a little time to performing actions which derive from yourself alone. They need not be important; quite insignificant actions fulfill the same purpose.
And there lies the horror: the past we remember is devoid of time. Impossible to reexperience a love the way we reread a book or resee a film.
All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. . . The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.
The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me That I can no longer call myself A man, a woman, an angel, Or even pure Soul.
In coming to understand anything we are rejecting the facts as they are for us in favour of the facts as they are.
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