"Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices"
About this Quote
Montapert’s line lands like a closed door: no loopholes, no appeals court, no cosmic clerical error that lets you slip past what you set in motion. It’s philosophy stripped of velvet. The absolutism ("nobody ever did, or ever will") isn’t just emphasis; it’s a rhetorical trap. If you feel the urge to object, you’ve already conceded the premise that choices matter enough to fight over.
The specific intent is moral accountability, but not in the Sunday-school sense of "be good". It’s closer to a hard-edged secular karma: cause and effect as an inescapable civic law. "Consequences" is doing the heavy lifting, because it’s ethically neutral. Consequences can be triumph, regret, collateral damage, slow-burn satisfaction. The quote doesn’t threaten punishment; it denies exemption.
The subtext is anti-fantasy. It takes aim at the stories we tell ourselves to keep living comfortably: that we were forced, that we “had no choice,” that reinvention erases history, that time dilutes responsibility. Montapert insists choices accrue interest. Even refusing to choose is framed as a choice with a bill attached.
Context matters: writing from a 20th century marked by mass propaganda, bureaucratic alibis, and technological distancing, a philosopher’s blunt insistence on personal agency reads like a rebuttal to the era’s favorite excuse. It’s also a quiet warning to modern culture’s obsession with “brand new me”: you can edit your image; you can’t redact causality.
The specific intent is moral accountability, but not in the Sunday-school sense of "be good". It’s closer to a hard-edged secular karma: cause and effect as an inescapable civic law. "Consequences" is doing the heavy lifting, because it’s ethically neutral. Consequences can be triumph, regret, collateral damage, slow-burn satisfaction. The quote doesn’t threaten punishment; it denies exemption.
The subtext is anti-fantasy. It takes aim at the stories we tell ourselves to keep living comfortably: that we were forced, that we “had no choice,” that reinvention erases history, that time dilutes responsibility. Montapert insists choices accrue interest. Even refusing to choose is framed as a choice with a bill attached.
Context matters: writing from a 20th century marked by mass propaganda, bureaucratic alibis, and technological distancing, a philosopher’s blunt insistence on personal agency reads like a rebuttal to the era’s favorite excuse. It’s also a quiet warning to modern culture’s obsession with “brand new me”: you can edit your image; you can’t redact causality.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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