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
men soul suffering
When a man's life is destroyed or damaged by some wound or privation of soul or body, which is due to other men's actions or negligence, it is not only his sensibility that suffers but also his aspiration toward the good. Therefore there has been sacrilege towards that which is sacred in him.
inspirational motivational respect
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 valid critic.
pain lying hatred
There is no detachment where there is no pain. And there is no pain endured without hatred or lying unless detachment is present too.
desire may immortality
We should desire neither the immortality nor the death of any human being, whoever he may be, with whom we have to do.
pharisees beast obedience
A Pharisee is someone who is virtuous out of obedience to the Great Beast.
evil politics duty
Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty.
wisdom justice modern
There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice.
moving cutting suffering
The afflicted are not listened to. They are like someone whose tongue has been cut out and who occasionally forgets the fact. When they move their lips no ear perceives any sound. And they themselves soon sink into impotence in the use of language, because of the certainty of not being heard.
color race needs
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.
wish faults made
It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves.
country men thinking
A man thinks he is dying for his country," said Anatole France, "but he is dying for a few industrialists." But even that is saying too much. What one dies for is not even so substantial and tangible as an industrialist.
spiritual humility grace
Just as the power of the sun is the only force in the natural universe that causes a plant to grow against gravity, so the grace of God is the only force in the spiritual universe that causes a person to grow against the gravity of their own ego.
kindness optimistic mean-people
A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.
country peace war
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 make war. Petrol is more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict.