"For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.“


-Albert Camus

posted in death


For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.

Other Quotes You Might Like

Discover more inspiring quotes from our collection

"A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession."

-Albert Camus

workView Quote
"Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies."

-Albert Camus

workView Quote
"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

-Albert Camus

workView Quote
"The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm."

-Albert Camus

warView Quote
"We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives... inside ourselves."

-Albert Camus

warView Quote
"How can sincerity be a condition of friendship? A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing."

-Albert Camus

truthView Quote

More Quotes About death

Explore other inspiring quotes in this category

"When we are dealing with death we are constantly being dragged down by the event: Humor diverts our attention and lifts our sagging spirits."

-Allen Klein

deathView Quote
"I start thinking about life after death. I've got to quit thinking about it because it's very deep. Very deep. Sometimes you start thinking about it, and you don't feel like you want to be alive, so I don't like to get all quiet."

-David Ortiz

deathView Quote
"What we think of as our sensitivity is only the higher evolution of terror in a poor dumb beast. We suffer for nothing. Our own death wish is our only real tragedy."

-Mario Puzo

deathView Quote
"So here is one of my theories on happiness: we cannot know if we have lived a truly happy life until the very end. This view of life and death was reinforced by my close witnessing of the buildup to the death of Philip Gould. Philip was without doubt my closest friend in politics. When he died, I felt like I had lost a limb."

-Alastair Campbell

deathView Quote
"I'm not on the run from anything and I'm not at all clear about what I'm running towards. But as some great writer put it, I want to be certain that when I arrive at death, I'm totally exhausted."

-Fiona Shaw

deathView Quote
"Planning to play: that's what saving for retirement is today - and it is antithetical to the nature of play, fully within the definition of work, and blissfully ignorant of the reality of death."

-John Thorn

deathView Quote