nobunnies

In the face of an obstacle which it is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid. If I persist in beating my fist against a stone wall, my freedom exhausts itself in this useless gesture without succeeding in giving itself a content. It debases itself in a vain contingency. Yet, there is hardly a sadder virtue than resignation.

If a door refuses to open, let us accept not opening it and there we are free. But by doing that, one manages only to save an abstract notion of freedom. It is emptied of all content and truth. The power of man ceases to be limited because it is annulled. ... no one would dream of considering this gloomy passivity as the triumph of freedom.

in order that my freedom might still pursue its movement in the face of the failure, it must must aim by means of it at an end which is nothing else but precisely the free movement of existence.

It is because there are real dangers, real failures and earthly damnation that words like victory, wisdom, or joy have meaning. Nothing is decided in advance, and it is because man has something to lose and because he can lose that he can also win.

Simone DeBeauvoir, Ethics of Ambiguity

(this was not exactly in order.)

Signed,
That Asshole Who Really Just Quoted From A Philosophy Book.