Full Idea
To place the notion of rights at the centre of social conflicts is to inhibit any possible impulse of charity on both sides.
Gist of Idea
Giving centrality to rights stifles all impulses of charity
Source
Simone Weil (Human Personality [1943], p.83)
Book Reference
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.83
A Reaction
I think she exaggerates. To place personal charity at the centre of social conflicts strikes me as extremely conservative, and unlikely to improve the situation very much. I'm unsure how to reconcile this with Idea 23750. What sort of charity?