Simone Weil Quotes

239 quotes in 2557 categories

• More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a…
• The only hope of socialism resides in those who have already brought about in themselves, as far as is possible in the society of today,…
• We are like horses who hurt themselves as soon as they pull on their bits - and we bow our heads. We even lose consciousness…
• When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value,…
• With no matter what human being, taken individually, I always find reasons for concluding that sorrow and misfortune do not suit him; either because he…
• Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs…
• Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the…
• I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries…
• It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more just or less, it is the order that is…
• Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.
• Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them…
• A beautiful woman looking at her image in the mirror may very well believe the image is herself. An ugly woman knows it is not.
• Human existence is so fragile a thing and exposed to such dangers that I cannot love without trembling.
• To claim that theft or adultery or lying are "evil" simply reflects our degraded idea of good-—that it has something to do with respect for…
• Affliction hardens and discourages us because, like a red hot iron, it stamps the soul to its very depths with the scorn, the disgust, and…
• Do not allow yourself to be imprisoned by any affection. Keep your solitude. The day, if it ever comes, when you are given true affection,…
• If we go down into ourselves, we find that we possess exactly what we desire.
• Everything beautiful has a mark of eternity.
• Those who love a cause are those who love the life which has to be led in order to serve it.
• It seemed to me certain, and I still think so today, that one can never wrestle enough with God if one does so out of…

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