By committing a crime, a man places himself, of his own accord, outside the chain of eternal obligations which bind every human being to every other one. Punishment alone can weld him back again; fully so, if accompanied by consent on his part; otherwise only partially so. Just as the only way of showing respect for somebody suffering from hunger is to give him something to eat, so the only way of showing respect for somebody who has placed himself outside the law is to reinstate him inside the law by subjecting him to the punishment ordained by law.
The need for punishment is not satisfied where, as is generally the case, the penal code is merely a method of exercising pressure through fear.


p. 103 - Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986) - The Needs of the Soul (1949)

Simone Weil Quotes

By committing a crime, a man places himself, of his own accord, outside the chain of eternal obligations which bind every human being to every other...

By committing a crime, a man places himself, of his own accord, outside the chain of eternal obligations which bind every human being to every other...

By committing a crime, a man places himself, of his own accord, outside the chain of eternal obligations which bind every human being to every other...

By committing a crime, a man places himself, of his own accord, outside the chain of eternal obligations which bind every human being to every other...