Simone Weil
Simone Weil
Simone Weil; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and political activist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth3 February 1909
CityParis, France
CountryFrance
friendship art joy
To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.
truth-is
Truth is sought not because it is truth but because it is good.
powerful believe men
The recognition of human wretchedness is difficult for whoever is rich and powerful because he is almost invincibly led to believe that he is something. It is equally difficult for the man in miserable circumstances because he is almost invincibly led to believe that the rich and powerful man is something.
friendship distance views
Friendship is a miracle by which a person consents to view from a certain distance, without coming any nearer, the very being who is as necessary to him as food.
forgiveness imagine knows
I also am other than what I imagine myself to be. To know this is forgiveness.
heart world longing
At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased by any object in this world.
opposites soul virtue
The simultaneous existence of opposite virtues in the soul like pincers to catch hold of God.
god wall communication
Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.
solitude wish virtue
To wish to escape from solitude is cowardice. Friendship is not to be sought, not to be dreamed, not to be desired; it is to be exercised (it is a virtue).
distance sin wrong-direction
Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction.
waiting precious-gifts
We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them.
philosophical metaphor universe
The entire universe is nothing but a great metaphor.
inspiration giving people
Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention.
peace giving doe
Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.