“As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles.”
Fear
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
ArtAll Quotes by Simone Weil
“Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace.”
Beauty“There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice.”
Society“We can only know one thing about God - that he is what we are not. Our wretchedness alone is an image of this. The more we contemplate it, the more we contemplate him.”
Alone“The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.”
Teacher“Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.”
Imagination“Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it.”
History“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.”
Great“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.”
Future“The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded on the spirituality of work.”
Work“Evil, when we are in its power, is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, even a duty.”
Power“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 of all human beings.”
Equality“Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.”
Beauty“What a country calls its vital... interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.”
War“Humility is attentive patience.”
Patience“The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.”
Intelligence“The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.”
Intelligence“A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.”
God“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
Art“A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.”
War