On the whole, men are more good than bad; that, however, isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance that fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. The soul of the murderer is blind; and there can be no true goodness nor true love without the utmost clear-sightedness.
Interpretation
Ignorance is a significant obstacle to true goodness and love.
In this quote, Albert Camus emphasizes that while human beings may generally possess goodness, it is their ignorance that leads to vices. The inability to see clearly and understand the world results in false perceptions of oneself and others, which can lead to destructive actions, such as violence. Camus argues that genuine goodness and love cannot flourish without a clear understanding of reality, highlighting the importance of knowledge and awareness.
In practice
In a debate about morality, I might use this quote to illustrate the dangers of ignorance.
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.
Prayer is the vital breath of the Christian; not the thing that makes him alive, but the evidence that he is alive.
No reference is truly direct — every reference depends on some kind of coding scheme. It's just a question of how implicit it is.
We feel free because we lack the very language to articulate our unfreedom.
If it were possible to have a life absolutely free from every feeling of sin, what a terrifying vacuum it would be.
History is the long struggle of man, by exercise of his reason, to understand his environment and to act upon it. But the modern period has broadened the struggle in a revolutionary way. Man now seeks to understand, and act on, not only his environment, but himself; and this has added, so to speak, a new dimension to reason and a new dimension to history.
It can hardly be denied that such a demand quite arbitrarily limits the facts which are to be admitted as possible causes of the events which occur in the real world.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.