Status Updates From Pour une morale de l'ambiguïté

"But an action which wants to serve man ought to be careful not to forget him along the way; if it chooses to fulfill itself blindly, it will lose its meaning or will take on an unforeseen meaning; for the goal is not fixed once and for all; it is defined all along the road which leads to it."

"But a democracy which defends itself only by acts of oppression equivalent to those of authoritarian regimes, is precisely denying all these values; whaterever the virtues of a civilization may be, it immediately belies them if it buys them by means of injustice and tyranny."

"As we have also seen, the situation in the world is so complex that one can not fight everywhere at the same time an for everyone. In order to win an urgent victory, one has to give up the idea...of serving certain valid causes; one may even be brought to the point of fighting against them."

"He can become conscious of the real requirements of his own freedom, which can will itself only by destining itself to an open future, by seeking to extend itself by means of the freedom of others. Therefore, in any case, the freedom of other men must be respected and they must be helped to free themselves. Such a law imposes limits upon action and at the same time immediately gives it a content."

Yet it is because there are real dangers, real failures, and real earthly damnation that words like victory, wisdom, or joy have meaning. Nothing is decided in advance, and it is because man has something to lose and because he can lose, that he can also win."