Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Laws try to codify consciousness but fail to simplify human complexity.
In plain terms
Laws cannot fully capture the complexity of human thought.
What can you take from it?
Be skeptical of laws that oversimplify human behavior.

Where it applies

  • legal theory
  • policy making
  • psychology

Putting it to work

  • critique rigid laws
  • consider human complexity in policy
  • support flexible justice

Questions to consider

  • Can law ever truly understand human consciousness?
  • Where should law draw the line?

Another view

Some laws need simplification to be enforceable.

More from Albert Camus

  1. We must accept the dangers: the era of chairbound artists is over. But we must reject the bitterness ... Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, …

    Permalink to quote #246
  2. When the meaning of life has been suppressed, there still remains life.

    Permalink to quote #248
  3. We live in an unsacrosanct moment in history.

    Permalink to quote #245

Related quotes

  1. Law is a bottomless pit.

    John ArbuthnotJohn Arbuthnot quote #3
  2. With rebellion, awareness is born.

    Albert CamusAlbert Camus quote #7
  3. The income tax was devised to give lawyers and certified public accountants business. Few persons can make head, tail, or middle out of it. Einstein admitted h…

    W. C. FieldsW. C. Fields quote #9