It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners. - Albert Camus

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience. It would be easy, however, to destroy that good conscience by shouting to them: if you want the happiness of the people, let them speak out and tell what kind of happiness they want and what kind they don't want! But, in truth, the very ones who make use of such alibis know they are lies; they leave to their intellectuals on duty the chore of believing in them and of proving that religion, patriotism, and justice need for their survival the sacrifice of freedom.

The preceding merely defines a way of thinking. But the point is to live.

"In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion."

[The Minotaur]