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.
What is crime amongst the multitude, is only vice among the few.
For us humans, everything is permanent - until it changes, as we are immortal until we die
Jetsetting is now not the privilege of the elite so much as a veritiginous mundanity for a permanently dispossessed global workforce.
...more than other senses, the eye objectifies and masters. it sets at a distance, maintains the distance. in our culture, the predominance of the look over smell, taste, touch, hearing, has brought about an improverishment of bodily relations...the moment domin ates the look dominates, the body loses its materiality” -luce irigaray
To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death of one's own free choice, death at the proper time, with a clear head and with joyfulness, consummated in the midst of children and witnesses: so that an actual leave-taking is possible while he who is leaving is still there.
Faced with having to change our views or prove that there is no need to do so, most of us immediately get busy on the proof.
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