On the Abolition of All Political Parties Quotes

“Nearly everywhere – often even when dealing with purely technical problems – instead of thinking, one merely takes sides: for or against. Such a choice replaces the activity of the mind. This is an intellectual leprosy; it originated in the political world and then spread through the land, contaminating all forms of thinking. This leprosy is killing us; it is doubtful whether it can be cured without first starting with the abolition of all political parties.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“In fact – and with very few exceptions – when a man joins a party, he submissively adopts a mental attitude which he will express later on with words such as, ‘As a monarchist, as a Socialist, I think that . . .’ It is so comfortable! It amounts to having no thoughts at all. Nothing is more comfortable than not having to think.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“We pretend that our present system is democratic, yet the people never have the chance nor the means to express their views on any problem of public life. Any issue that does not pertain to particular interests is abandoned to collective passions, which are systematically and officially inflamed.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“When someone joins a party, it is usually because he has perceived, in the activities and propaganda of this party, a number of things that appeared to him just and good. Still, he has probably never studied the position of the party on all the problems of public life. When joining the party, he therefore also endorses a number of positions which he does not know. In fact, he submits his thinking to the authority of the party. As, later on, little by little, he begins to learn these positions, he will accept them without further examination. This”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“If one were to entrust the organisation of public life to the devil, he could not invent a more clever device.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“The freedom to think involves the courage to stumble upon our demons".”
― Alain de Botton, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“One recognises that the partisan spirit makes people blind, makes them deaf to justice, pushes even decent men cruelly to persecute innocent targets. One recognises it, and yet nobody suggests getting rid of the organisations that generate such evils.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Just imagine: if a member of the party (elected member of parliament, candidate or simple activist) were to make a public commitment, ‘Whenever I shall have to examine any political or social issue, I swear I will absolutely forget that I am the member of a certain political group; my sole concern will be to ascertain what should be done in order to best serve the public interest and justice.’ Such words would not be welcome. His comrades and even many other people would accuse him of betrayal. Even the least hostile would say, ‘Why then did he join a political party?’ – thus naively confessing that, when joining a political party, one gives up the idea of serving nothing but the public interest and justice. This man would be expelled from his party, or at least denied pre-selection; he would certainly never be elected.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“The institutions that regulate the public life of a country always influence the general mentality – such is the prestige of power. People have progressively developed the habit of thinking, in all domains, only in terms of being ‘in favour of’ or ‘against’ any opinion, and afterwards they seek arguments to support one of these two options. This is an exact transposition of the party spirit.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Political parties are a marvellous mechanism which, on the national scale, ensures that not a single mind can attend to the effort of perceiving, in public affairs, what is good, what is just, what is true. As a result – except for a very small number of fortuitous coincidences – nothing is decided, nothing is executed, but measures that run contrary to the public interest, to justice and to truth.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“When a country has political parties, sooner or later it becomes impossible to intervene effectively in public affairs without joining a party and playing the game. Whoever is concerned for public affairs will wish his concern to bear fruit. Those who care about the public interest must either forget their concern and turn to other things, or submit to the grind of the parties. In the latter case, they shall experience worries that will soon supersede their original concern for the public interest.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Of these three sorts of lies – lying to the party, lying to the public, lying to oneself – the first is by far the least evil. Yet if belonging to a party compels one to lie all the time, in every instance, then the very existence of political parties is absolutely and unconditionally an evil.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Political parties were established in European public life partly as an inheritance from the Terror, and partly under the influence of British practice. The mere fact that they exist today is not in itself a sufficient reason for us to preserve them. The only legitimate reason for preserving anything is its goodness. The evils of political parties are all too evident; therefore, the problem that should be examined is this: do they contain enough good to compensate for their evils and make their preservation desirable?”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Nearly everywhere---often even when dealing with purely technical problems---instead of thinking, one merely takes sides: for or against. Such a choice replaces the activity of the mind. This is an intellectual leprosy; it originated in the political world and then spread through the land, contaminating all forms of thinking. This leprosy is killing us; it is doubtful whether it can be cured without first starting with the abolition of all political parties. . . . When joining the party, [man] therefore also endorses a number of positions which he does not know. In fact, he submits his thinking to the authority of the party. . . . If a man were to say, as he applied for his party membership card, 'I agree with the party on this and that question; I have not yet studied its other positions and thus I entirely reserve my opinion, pending further information,' he would probably be advised to come back at a later date.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“The petit-bourgeois temperament prefers the cosy picture of a slow, uninterrupted and endless progress. In both cases, the material growth of the party becomes the sole criterion by which to measure the good and the bad of all things. It is exactly as if the party were a head of cattle to be fattened, and as if the universe was created for its fattening”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“What should he do? It is simple. If he can escape from the grip of the people who wield the whip, he must run away. If he could have evaded his tormentors in the first place, he should have.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Even for those who do not compromise their inner integrity, the existence of such penalties unavoidably distorts their judgment. If they try to react against party control, this very impulse to react is itself unrelated to the truth, and as such should be suspect; and so, in turn, should be this suspicion . . . True attention is a state so difficult for any human creature, so violent, that any emotional disturbance can derail it. Therefore, one must always endeavour strenuously to protect one’s inner faculty of judgment against the turmoil of personal hopes and fears.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Nothing is more comfortable than not having to think.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“When a country has political parties, sooner or later it becomes impossible to intervene effectively in public affairs without joining a party and playing the game.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“The unjust will of an entire nation is by no means superior to the unjust will of a single individual.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“When water is set in motion by a violent, impetuous current, it ceases to reflect images. Its surface is no longer level; it can no more measure densities. Whether it is moved by a single current or by several conflicting ones, the disturbance is the same.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Nearly everywhere- often when dealing with purely technical problems -instead of thinking, one merely takes sides- for or against. Such a choice replaces the activity of the mind. This is intellectual leprosy: it originated in the political world and then spread through the land, contaminating all forms of thinking. this leprosy is killing us; it is doubtful whether it can be cured without first starting with the abolition of all political parties.”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties

“Comme, dans les partis politiques, il y a des démocrates qui admettent plusieurs partis, de même dans le domaine des opinions les gens larges reconnaissent une valeur aux opinions avec lesquelles ils se disent en désaccord.

C’est avoir complètement perdu le sens même du vrai et du faux.

D’autres, ayant pris position pour une opinion, ne consentent à examiner rien qui lui soit contraire. C’est la transposition de l’esprit totalitaire.”
― Simone Weil, Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques: Texte intégral augmenté d'une biographie de Simone Weil

“C'est en désirant la vérité à vide et sans tenter d'en deviner d'avance le contenu qu'on reçoit la lumière. C'est là tout le mécanisme de l'attention.”
― Simone Weil, Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques

“Un homme qui n'a pas pris la résolution de fidélité exclusive à la lumière intérieure installe le mensonge au centre même de l'âme. Les ténèbres intérieures en sont la punition.”
― Simone Weil, Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques: Texte intégral augmenté d'une biographie de Simone Weil

“Des petites filles, attachées au gaullisme comme à l'équivalent français de l'hitlérisme, ajoutaient : "la vérité est relative, même en géométrie”
― Simone Weil, Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques

“Les partis les plus inconsistants et les plus strictement organisés sont égaux par le vague de la doctrine [...] Un homme, passât-il sa vie à écrire et à examiner des problèmes d'idées, n'a que très rarement une doctrine. Une collectivité n'en a jamais. Ce n'est pas une marchandise collective.”
― Simone Weil, Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques: Texte intégral augmenté d'une biographie de Simone Weil

“Le véritable esprit de 1789 consiste à penser, non pas qu'une chose est juste parce que le peuple la veut, mais qu'à certaines conditions le vouloir du peuple a plus de chances qu'aucun autre vouloir d'être conforme à la justice.”
― Simone Weil, Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques

“Yet no suffering befalls whoever relinquishes justice and truth, whereas the party system has painful penalties to chastise insubordination. These”
― Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties