"Simone Weil was one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth, or indeed of any other century. I have great sympathy for her, but sympathy is not necessarily congeniality. It would be easier to write of her if I liked what she had to say, which I strongly do not. …I think Simone Weil had both over- and under-equipped herself for the crisis which overwhelmed her — along, we forget, immersed in her tragedy, with all the rest of us. She was almost the perfectly typical passionate, revolutionary, intellectual woman — a frailer, even more highly strung Rosa Luxemburg. … She made up her own revolution out of her vitals, like a spider or silkworm. She could introject all the ill of the world into her own heart, but she could not project herself in sympathy to others. Her letters read like the more distraught signals of John of the Cross in the dark night."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Essayists from the United StatesPoets from the United StatesPeople from IndianaTranslators from the United StatesSocial anarchists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Simone Weil" in The Nation (12 January 1957)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_Rexroth
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Kenneth Rexroth
Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (22 December 1905 – 6 June 1982) was an American poet, essayist, translator and anarchist.
54 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Kenneth Rexroth →
Related Quotes
"The basic line in any good verse is cadenced... building it around the natural breath structures of speech."
"There have always been those who, though they see tragedy as the outcome of freedom, will nevertheless judge that tra…"
"What I try with my own stuff is to work the poem to a slow climax through a series of quiet painful dissonances."
"I have no interest in Kerouac whatsoever. I've done my stint for him. As far as I'm concerned, Kerouac is what Madiso…"
"You don't become a saint until you lead a good life whether in Tibet or Italy or America."
"You can’t become a saint by taking dope, stealing your friends’ typewriters, giving girls chancres, not supporting yo…"
"In America we have nothing that takes the place of the gods and goddesses and heroes and demigods of the ancient worl…"
"Late at night the horses stumble Around the camp and I awake. I lie on my elbow watching Your beautiful sleeping face…"
"With my own group I like to keep it loose. They have to counter rather than go with me. When they stop I like to be m…"
"Today we hear a great deal about Organizational Men, Mass Culture, Conformity, the Lonely Crowd, the Power Elite and …"