The poison of skepticism becomes, like alcoholism, tuberculosis, and some other diseases, much more virulent in a hitherto virgin soil.
Interpretation
Skepticism can spread more aggressively in an unchallenged environment, similar to a disease in a new host.
Simone Weil's quote illustrates how skepticism, when introduced into a new environment that lacks previous exposure to doubt or critical thinking, can proliferate uncontrollably, much like certain diseases thrive in an unexposed population. This highlights the importance of fostering a culture of inquiry and critical thought to prevent harmful ideologies from taking root and spreading unchallenged.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion about the importance of critical thinking in education.
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?
The big message of gospel is that you don't have to keep fighting the universe; you can stop, and the universe is quite good to you. There is a loss of ego.
The rocks are where they are- and this is their will. The rivers flow- and this is their will. The birds fly- this is their will. Human beings talk- this is their will. The seasons change, heaven sends down rain or snow, the earth occasionally shakes, the waves roll, the stars shine- each of them follows its own will. To be is to will and so is to become.
But once in a while the odd thing happens _x000D_ Once in a while the dream comes true _x000D_ And the whole pattern of life is altered _x000D_ Once in a while, the moon turns blue
And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ringο»Ώ passed out of all knowledge.
Live in the present moment. The past and future are nonexistent. Only the present can be grasped or, better, embraced.
We think that the world is a solid, vivid place, full of shape and colour and solid objects like this table and this microphone and so on, but we actually create that in our heads out of the bits of information that hit the back of our eyeballs or hit our eardrums or hit our tongues or whatever.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.