Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that everything originates from a specific point and cannot deviate from that origin without losing its essence.
Simone Weil's quote reflects on the nature of existence and progress, arguing that attempting to move away from one's origin leads to a distortion of identity and purpose. This perspective challenges the conventional notion of progress as inherently positive, suggesting that true value lies in understanding and remaining connected to our roots.
In practice
This quote could be used to inspire a discussion on personal growth during a philosophy class.
The afflicted are not listened to. They are like someone whose tongue has been cut out and who occasionally forgets the fact. When they move their lips no ear perceives any sound. And they themselves soon sink into impotence in the use of language, because of the certainty of not being heard.
The appetite for power, even for universal power, is only insane when there is no possibility of indulging it; a man who sees the possibility opening before him and does not try to grasp it, even at the risk of destroying himself and his country, is either
As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles.
Evil is license, and that is why it is monotonous: everything has to be drawn from ourselves. One is condemned to false infinity. That is hell itself.
I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded.
How many people have been thus led, through lack of self-confidence, to stifle their most justified doubts?
What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others.
Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.
Where self-interest is violently suppressed, it is replaced by a burdensome system of bureaucratic control which dries up the wellsprings of initiative and creativity.
We may lose our memory as we get older, but this might not be such a bad thing - who wants to drag a mental junkyard around at a time of life when you're starting to grow interesting little wings?
Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live?
There can be no peace in the world so long as a large proportion of the population lack the necessities of life and believe that a change of the political and economic system will make them available. World peace must be based on world plenty.
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