Franz Kafka (c. 1883-1924)
“The authorities work on the fundamental principle that no allowance whatsoever is made for error…Of course, they are not meant to detect errors in the crude sense of the word, for errors are not made, and even if one is made, as in your case for instance, who can say for certain that it is an error?”
- From The Castle (chapter 5) by Franz Kafka. The translation used here is by John R. Williams (Wordsworth Editions, 2009).
IOW, if we do it, it’s an honest mistake. If you do it, it’s malice or incompetence. Either way, we get away scott free while you get busted down to your socks.