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Single Idea 23813

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice ]

Full Idea

Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice.

Gist of Idea

Only people who understand force, and don't respect it, are capable of justice

Source

Simone Weil (The Iliad or the Poem of Force [1940], p.212)

Book Ref

Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.212


A Reaction

There are, of course, occasions when we are grateful to people who exercise appropriate force on our behalf. I think she was concerned with what is inappropriate.