Reflections on the Guillotine Quotes

“To decide that a man must be definitively punished is to deny him any further opportunity whatsoever to make reparation for his acts... This right to live that coincides with the opportunity for reparation is the natural right of every man, even the worst. The most wretched criminal and the worthiest judge here find themselves side by side, equally miserable and jointly responsible. Without this right, the moral life is strictly impossible. None among us is entitled to despair of a single man, unless it be after his death, which transforms his life into destiny and admits of a final judgment. But to pronounce this final judgment before death, to decree the closing of accounts when the creditor is still alive, is the privilege of no man. On these grounds, at least, he who judges absolutely condemns himself absolutely. ...It is because man is not fundamentally good that no one among us can set himself up as an absolute judge, for no one among us can pretend to absolute innocence. The verdict of capital punishment destroys the only indisputable human community there is, the community in the face of death, and such a judgment can only be legitimated by a truth or a principle that takes its place above all men, beyond the human condition.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“La vie de l'homme cesse d'être sacrée lorsque on croit utile de le tuer.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“toute société a les criminels qu'elle désire .”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“l'immense majorité des meurtriers ne savaient pas, en se rasant le matin, qu'ils allaient tuer le soir.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“En tant qu'écrivain, j'ai toujours eu horreur de certaines complaisances ; en tant qu'homme, je crois que les aspects repoussants de notre condition, s'ils sont inévitables, doivent être seulement affrontés en silence. Mais lorsque le silence, ou les ruses du langage, contribuent à Maintenir un abus qui doit être réformé ou un malheur qui peut être soulagé, il n'y a pas d'autre solution que de parler clair et de montrer l'obscénité qui se cache sous le manteau des mots.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“Les lois sanglantes ensanglantent les mœurs .”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“beaucoup de ces honnêtes gens sont des criminels qui s’ignorent.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“Quand l'imagination dort, les mots se vident de leur sens.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“No Hassle: Cancel Avira & Get a Refund in 5 Simple Steps

Cancel your Avira subscription easily with these five simple steps. Learn how to disable auto-renewal, check refund eligibility, and submit a request through Avira, Google Play, or Apple App Store. Follow this streamlined process to get your money back without stress.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“If society justifies the death penalty by the necessity of the example, it must justify itself by making the publicity necessary. It must show the executioner's hands each time and force everyone to look at them-the over-delicate citizens and all those who had any responsibility in bringing the execution into being. Otherwise, society admits that it kills without knowing what it is saying or doing. Or else it admits that such revolting ceremonies can only excite crime.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine

“To assert in any case that a man must be absolutely cut off from society because he is absolutely evil amounts to saying that society is absolutely good, and no-one in his right mind will believe this today.”
― Albert Camus, Reflections on the Guillotine