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.
Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.
A man who worships in Spirit and Truth no longer honors the Creator because of His works, but praises Him because of Himself.
cause down the shore everything's all right
If oxen and lions had hands and could paint with their hands and produce works of art, as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods likes horses and oxen like oxen. Each would represent them with bodies according to the bodies of each. So the Ethiopians make their gods black and snub-nosed; the Thracians give theirs red hair and blue eyes.
Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.
The fundamental basis of this Nation's law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul.
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