A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.
Interpretation
A nation that values itself must always preserve the ability to defend its sovereignty, even if it prefers peace.
Simone Weil's quote reflects the philosophy that a nation's self-respect and integrity are tied to its readiness to engage in conflict if necessary. It suggests that a true nation must not surrender its capacity for self-defense or the option to engage in war, as doing so would undermine its dignity and autonomy, highlighting the complex balance between peace and the willingness to protect oneself when required.
In practice
A politician might use this quote to emphasize the importance of military readiness during a speech.
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 almost think that hope is for the soul what breathing is for the living organism. Where hope is lacking the soul dries up and withers.
It is our very search, our lust for the miraculous and magical, that hides from us the truth that simply to be, simply to know I am, is already the miracle that we seek. Everything, as it is, is perfect, but you must stop seeing it as if in a mirror, as if in a dream.
Law cannot stand aside from the social changes around it.
As the strings of a lute are apart though they quiver the same music.
Am I embarrassed to speak for a less than perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one. Do I suppose there are societies which are free of sin? No, I don't. Do I think ours is, on balance, incomparably the most hopeful set of human relations the world has? Yes, I do.
From a Buddhist point of view, emotions are not real. As an actor, I manufacture emotions. They're a sense of play. But real life is the same. We're just not aware of it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.