The
Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt
"Once crime was as
solitary as a cry of protest; now it is as universal as
science. Yesterday it was put on trial; today it determines
the law."1a
"I rebel -- therefore we
exist."1b
". . . [I]n the Western World the
history of rebellion is inseparable from the history of
Christianity."1c
"With Cain, the first act
of rebellion coincides with the first crime. . . .
In that the
children of Cain have triumphed, increasingly, throughout the
centuries, the God of the Old Testament can be said to
have been incredibly successful."1d
TACITUS
"Absolute domination by the
law does not represent liberty, but no more does absolute anarchy.
. . Freedom exists only in a world where what is possible is
defined at the same time as what is not possible. Without law
there is no freedom."1e
"Absolute freedom mocks
at justice. Absolute justice denies freedom. To be
fruitful, the two ideas must find their limits in each
other."1f
"Immediately rebellion,
forgetful of its generous origins, allows itself to be
contaminated by resentment; it denies life, dashes toward
destruction, and raises up the grimacing cohorts of petty
rebels, embryo slaves all of them, who end by offering
themselves for sale, today, in all the marketplaces of Europe, to
no matter what form of servitude. It is no longer either
revolution or rebellion but rancor, malice, and tyranny. . . . All
of us, among the ruins, are preparing a renaissance beyond the
limits of nihilism. But few of us know it."1g
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