"Anyone who has been in authority knows how a thing can be in accordance
with your will in in one way and not in another. It may be quite
sensible for a mother to say to the children, "I’m not going to go and
make you tidy in the school room every night. You’ve got to learn to
keep it tidy on your own." Then she gives up one night and finds the
Teddy bear and the ink and the French Grammar all lying in the grate.
That is against her will. She would prefer the children to be tidy. But
on the other hand, it is her will which has left the children free to be
untidy. The same thing arises in any regiment, or trade union, or
school. You make a thing voluntary and then half the people do not do
it. That is not what you willed, but your will has made it
possible."—Mere Christianity
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