Single Idea 23832

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 4. Beauty]

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.

Gist of Idea

We both desire what is beautiful, and want it to remain as it is

Source

Simone Weil (Prerequisite to Dignity of Labour [1941], p.268)

Book Reference

Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], 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.