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
errors perspective sometimes
Contradiction itself, far from always being a criterion of error, is sometimes a sign of truth.
choices world worship
One has only the choice between God and idolatry. There is no other possibility. For the faculty of worship is in us, and it is either directed somewhere into this world, or into another.
intelligent intelligence roles
The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.
education teacher teaching
The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.
machines
Nothing is less instructive than a machine.
money firsts algebra
Algebra and money are essentially levelers; the first intellectually, the second effectively.
rewards energy degradation
Every kind of reward constitutes a degradation of energy.
lying two rights
The right to kill: supposing the life of X ... were linked with our own so that the two deaths had to be simultaneous, should we still wish him to die? If with our whole body and soul we desire life and if nevertheless without lying, we can reply 'yes'> then we have the right to kill.
men slavery
Man alone can enslave man.
humility exercise pride
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.
people personality architecture
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.
rights rely-upon flavor
The notion of rights is linked with the notion of sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavor, essentially evocative of legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely upon force in the background, or else it will be laughed at.
war self ready
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.
evil church mixtures
A society like the Church, which claims to be Divine is perhaps more dangerous on account of the ersatz good which it contains then on account of the evil which sullies it. Something of the social labelled divine: an intoxicating mixture which carries with it every sort of license. Devil disguised.