Simone Weil quotes - page 3

Capitalism has brought about the emancipation of collective humanity with respect to nature. But this collective humanity has itself taken on with respect to the individual the oppressive function formerly exercised by nature. (Simone Weil)
School children and students who love God should never say: "For my part I like mathematics"; "I like French"; "I like Greek." They should learn to like all these subjects, because all of them develop that faculty of attention which, directed toward God, is the very substance of prayer. View quote
Simone Weil
We should desire neither the immortality nor the death of any human being, whoever he may be, with whom we have to do. View quote
Simone Weil
The necessity for power is obvious, because life cannot be lived without order; but the allocation of power is arbitrary because all men are alike, or very nearly. Yet power must not seem to be arbitrarily allocated, because it will not then be recognized as power. Therefore prestige, which is illusion, is of the very essence of power. View quote
Simone Weil
Truth is sought not because it is truth but because it is good. View quote
Simone Weil
The struggle between the opponents and defenders of capitalism is a struggle between innovators who do not know what innovation to make and conservatives who do not know what to conserve. View quote
Simone Weil
The essential characteristic of the first half of the twentieth century is the growing weakness, and almost the disappearance, of the idea of value. View quote
Simone Weil
The miser deprives himself of his treasure because of his desire for it. View quote
Simone Weil
It is precisely those artists and writers who are most inclined to think of their art as the manifestation of their personality who are in fact the most in bondage to public taste. View quote
Simone Weil
The simultaneous existence of opposite virtues in the soul - like pincers to catch hold of God. View quote
Simone Weil
The future is made of the same stuff as the present. (Simone Weil)
If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy most of the treasures of their past, future historians would certainly pronounce that she had civilized Europe. View quote
Simone Weil
The state of conformity is an imitation of grace. View quote
Simone Weil
There is nothing that comes closer to true humility than the intelligence. It is impossible to feel pride in one's intelligence at the moment when one really and truly exercises it. View quote
Simone Weil
The most important part of education - to teach the meaning of to know (in the scientific sense). View quote
Simone Weil
The Hebrews took for their idol, not something made of metal or wood, but a race, a nation, something just as earthly. Their religion is essentially inseparable from such idolatry, because of the notion of the "chosen people." View quote
Simone Weil
Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice. View quote
Simone Weil
Gregorian chant, Romanesque architecture, the Iliad, the invention of geometry were not, for the people through whom they were brought into being and made available to us, occasions for the manifestation of personality. View quote
Simone Weil
Those who keep the masses of men in subjection by exercising force and cruelty deprive them at once of two vital foods, liberty and obedience; for it is no longer within the power of such masses to accord their inner consent to the authority to which they are subjected. Those who encourage a state of things in which the hope of gain is the principal motive take away from men their obedience, for consent which is its essence is not something which can be sold. View quote
Simone Weil
Rome is the Great Beast of atheism and materialism, adoring nothing but itself. Israel is the Great Beast of religion. Neither one nor the other is likable. The Great Beast is always repulsive. View quote
Simone Weil
The needs of a human being are sacred. Their satisfaction cannot be subordinated either to reasons of state, or to any consideration of money, nationality, race, or color, or to the moral or other value attributed to the human being in question, or to any consideration whatsoever. (Simone Weil)
What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to makewar. Petrol is much more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict. View quote
Simone Weil
If we go down into ourselves we find that we possess exactly what we desire. View quote
Simone Weil
The number 2 thought of by one man cannot be added to the number 2 thought of by another man so as to make up the number 4. View quote
Simone Weil
We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them. Man cannot discover them by his own powers, and if he sets out to seek for them he will find in their place counterfeits of which he will be unable to discern falsity. View quote
Simone Weil