green numbers give full details | back to texts | unexpand this idea
23832 | We both desire what is beautiful, and want it to remain as it is |
Full Idea: Everything beautiful is the object of desire but one desires that it be not otherwise, that it be unchanged, that it be exactly what it is. | |||
From: Simone Weil (Prerequisite to Dignity of Labour [1941], p.268) | |||
A reaction: This seems to be mostly true, though I don't think it reveals the essence of beauty. I might love a particular landscape, but want to plant a carefully placed tree within it. Or change one or two words in a great poem. |