He who rejects the entire past, without keeping any part of it which could serve to breathe life into the revolution, condemns himself to finding justification only in the future and, in the meantime, to entrusting the police with the task of justifying the provisional state of affairs... The future is the only transcendental value for men without God.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Rejecting all past values leaves only the future as a value, leading to reliance on state force for justification.
- In plain terms
- Ignoring history makes the future the only goal and the state the enforcer.
- What can you take from it?
- Respect the past to avoid relying on force for the future.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What value does the past hold?
- How do we justify change?
Another view
It assumes tradition is always useful for breathing life into revolutions.
More from Albert Camus
He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hope for the human condition is a fool.
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