Beauty is a fruit which we look at without trying to seize it.
Interpretation
True beauty is often appreciated from a distance and is not something we can possess or control.
This quote by Simone Weil speaks to the nature of beauty as something that exists in its own realm, appreciated through observation rather than ownership. It suggests that beauty, much like fruit, is to be enjoyed in its natural form rather than exploited or attempted to be captured, highlighting the transient yet impactful experience of encountering beauty in the world around us.
In practice
In an art class, a teacher might share this quote to prompt a discussion on appreciating art without the need for ownership.
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?
I can paint pictures, but I cannot rule men.
Being a writer is part of a noble tradition, as is being a musician β the last egalitarian and open associations. No matter what happens in terms of fame and fortune, dedication to writing is a marching-step forward from where you were before, when you didnβt care about reaching out to the world, when you werenβt hoping to contribute, when you were just standing there doing some job into which you had fallen.
Marijuana is a useful catalyst for specific optical and aural aesthetic perceptions. I apprehended the structure of certain pieces of jazz and classical music in a new manner under the influence of marijuana, and these apprehensions have remained valid in years of normal consciousness.
As a novelist, where do you go to tap into memories, and impressions, and sensations? It's usually, in my experience, your early life, before you started thinking of yourself as a writer, because somehow those experiences are unadulterated.
I think of making love and making art as being very parallel. Even the most amateur attempt can be thrilling.
In Red Flags, Juris Jurjevics has brilliantly accomplished a feat that is becoming a major characteristic of 21st century literature: the seamless combining of a genre form with the deep resonance of literary art. This book is thrilling to read for both its narrative drive and its insight into the human heart.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.